Qalito villager Viliame Jeke at their borehole source at Korolevu yesterday.


A SETTLEMENT along the Coral Coast has started its own water sanitation project as part of its bid to prevent any further skin infections.
Qalito Settlement, located near Korolevu, on the Coral Coast, is home to 70 people of which just one household had piped water.

Project leader Villiame Jeke said problems arose because sewerage from village toilets would seep into the ocean because there was no proper drainage system as well in the settlement.

Mr Jeke said those problems were expected to subside with the installation of the village black water treatment system.

The system will see effluent from septic tanks and sewage pipes leached through a concrete block coconut filter.

"The system is known as the banana trench black water treatment because here the banana plants remove harsh toxins from the effluent, which causes health problems and are main source of pollution on coral reef systems," he said.

Mr Jeke said with the black water treatment system in place, the sewerage waste would be treated and the water that seeped into the ocean would not be harmful to humans and the coral ecosystem.

The project is the first water sanitation project by the Rotary Pacific Water for Life Foundation.

The Foundation believes that the village project could be a model solution that can be used by most coastal villagers in a cost effective manner using local materials such as coconuts and banana plants.

Mr Jeke said his family was the only one with piped water system, which was provided by the resort and people from the village used the water from his house.

"We wanted all the homes in the village to have access to clean water and so we raised funds and collected more than $4000 which was then used to lay pipes and get water to all the houses," he said.

The villagers worked to get the pipes laid out and the Ministry of Regional Development assisted them in digging a borehole at a spring water source a few blocks away from the village.

"The water sanitation and project and the water provision project were commissioned last week and now every home has piped water and they have access to clean water," he said.

Mr Jeke said when the resort realised that the village was getting its sewerage sanitation program, it also decided to upgrade its sanitation system.

He said a resort which employed the majority of people in the settlement had also helped them a lot with the project.

FIJI TIMES, JULY 21, 2009