Emergency works to remove the defective Polyjet valve at the Water Authority of Fiji’s Nagado Water Treatment Plant has been completed.
“As of 3:30am this morning (24/06) repair works and the removal of the defective Polyjet valve at the Nagado Water Treatment Plant has been successfully completed within its expected timeframe,” said WAF Chief Operating Officer, Mr Samanmal Ekanayake.
“Water supply is expected to be normalised by 80% on Monday morning, but towards Momi southern end side which has the longest pipeline – so that will take some additional time due to the distance. We expect that, by Wednesday (27/06) water supply will be fully restored,” said Mr Ekanayake.
Mr Ekanayake said defective Polyjet valve requires additional repairs as it had sustained major damages as nuts, bolts and metal sheeting pieces from the valve were orbiting within the chamber and causing severe weathering to the chamber walls and the Polyjet valve. WAF has two Polyjet valves installed at the treatment plant in Nagado and has revived the second Polyjet valve while additional repairs will be made to the defective Polyjet valve and the chamber.
“We decided to carry out this repair with a short notice due to the urgency of the repair. If we did not act quickly it could have resulted in a catastrophic structural damage which could have resulted in a complete shutdown at Nagado leaving thousands of Fijians without water supply for a month or two,” explained Ekanayake.
Nagado Water Treatment Plant receives water through a high-pressure gravity pipeline from the Vaturu Dam. There are four main valves (2 Vanesa valves and 2 Polyjet valves) within the treatment plant to control plant operations. The purpose of the Vanesa valves are to isolate the system for maintenance purposes.
“The Polyjet valves regulate the pressure and the flow. All those valves have been installed during commissioning of Nagado Water Treatment Plant and are nearly 14 years old. Orders for replacement four valves were placed few months ago with the manufacturers, however, we did not expect for its breakdown soon,” said Mr Ekanayake.
Mr Ekanayake also revealed that another water shutdown will need to take place later this year, to allow the installation of the new Vanessa valves. These valves are very important part of the treatment plant and need to be installed.
“The new Vanessa valves will be installed later this year and customers are to expect another water disruption and prior notice will be given to the public. The new Polyjet valves arrive in next year and those will be installed later and this will not require a further water shutdown as the system could be properly isolated with new Vanesa valves in place. All these upgrades have been planned and WAF is the in the process of upgrading all its major treatment plants in time to avoid an unplanned shut down to the public” said Mr Ekanayake.
Details to the next water shutdown will be announced accordingly and ample time will be given to customers to store water.
WAF General Manager Customer Services, Mr Sekove Uluinayau said that “WAF is committed to resolving this water disruption and we are working around the clock to restore the supply of clean drinking water to the people of Nadi and Lautoka as soon as possible,” he said.
Mr Uluinayau said a total of 70 water carting vehicles have been carting water around to all affected areas with a total of 48 trucks and 5 twin cabs allocated for affected areas in Nadi and 17 water carting trucks for affected areas in Lautoka.
“WAF has increased the number of trucks on the ground and demands were on a high, we have also placed a total of 200 water tanks at strategic locations for people to go and refill in their containers and gallons,” said Mr Uluinayau.
The Authority highly regrets any inconvenience caused to its customers and is committed to getting water supply normalized as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, customers in Nadi and Lautoka can contact the Nagado Shutdown Helpline through the toll-free shortcode 1507 for all network users, or email nagadohelpline@waf.com.fj for assistance, tank location placements and further enquiries.