Peceli Naviticoko 
The Water Authority of Fiji is working on building a better infrastructure that can sustain the impact of climate change over the next 30 years.
Chief Executive Officer Dr Amit Chanan says this is part of WAF’s 2050 strategic plan.
Chanan says the wastewater system needs to upgrade its capacity in terms of what it can carry, especially during heavy rains and when there are storm surges and high tides.
He says with the rise in infiltration into the sewer network, about 14 million litres of rainwater gets pumped into the Kinoya treatment plant.
“On a normal day, 33 million litres of sewage get to the Kinoya wastewater treatment plant from Suva. When it rains, that jumps to about 47 million litres. So, a lot of rainwater is getting pumped to Kinoya. But at that time, at 47 million, the capacity of the sewer network to convey more had just reached capacity, and it started to overflow.”
Dr Chanan says with the capacity of the sewer network to convey more, it reaches capacity and starts to overflow, which is a current issue of climate change that WAF’s infrastructure is already dealing with and needs to be addressed immediately.
He says about $10 billion of investment will be needed to address the issue so the country can continue to provide the service and be more resilient in the future.
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