Water supply to residents in Lautoka has been normalized following the successful completion of the repair works to the major water leakage along the Vaturu-Nagado high-pressure pipeline along Batiri in Vaturu.
WAF General Manager Customer Services and Acting General Manager Operations, Mr Sekove Uluinayau thanked the residents of Lautoka for taking heed of the notices regarding the partial water shutdown and storing sufficient amounts of water.
“As of 11am, Monday (22/04) water supply to Lautoka was restored at 98% with normal water pressures. I would like to thank our customers who were affected during this partial shutdown for their understanding and taking heed of the notices and storing water to sustain them during the water disruption period,” said Mr Uluinayau.
Mr Uluinayau said that the remaining 2% is anticipated to be normalized by 6AM Tuesday morning 23rd April, 2019.
“The remaining affected areas which is around 2% of our coverage is mainly the elevated areas of Lautoka, WAF crew members are working to get water supply normalized to these areas by conducting flushing and bleeding works and we anticipate to get this done before 6AM tomorrow morning,” explained Mr Uluinayau.
Mr Uluinayau said that it was a challenge for WAF in ensuring that the public had water during the disruption period.
“Ensuring the availability of access to clean drinking water for thousands of customers, including the hotel sector and other businesses during the disruption period was the major challenge that WAF faced, however, with proper planning and coordination, we were able to carry out the repairs,” said Mr Uluinayau.
“WAF would once again like to thank the cooperation of the public, major customers including hotels, businesses, hospitals including health centers and Government institutions that assisted WAF,” said Mr Uluinayau.
“During the shutdown, the toll-free line 1507 had received over 1,136 telephone calls from customers seeking assistance and clarifications,” said Mr Uluinayau.
Mr Uluinayau thanked the dedicated staff and contractors – Elisha Engineering Co. Limited who worked tirelessly over the weekend “for their hard work and commitment in conducting the repairs as well as water carting operations.”
Meanwhile, the Authority urges customers to contact the Authority’s National Contact Centre on toll-free short code 1507 or email waterhelp@waf.com.fj if they are yet to receive water supply to their homes.