$20 million has been taken out of the Water Authority of Fiji’s 2015 budget to improve waste water infrastructure.

$176 million has been set aside for WAF for next year.

Chief Executive Officer – Opetaia Ravai says this is the first time, WAF is investing a large sum of money in improving the waste water infrastructure.

“Previously it was all water, there was no waste water investment but now we are doing this together. If we are giving more water to people, which means the sinks will get used more; toilets will get flushed more, so we need to build a waste water infrastructure. We need to build a waste water infrastructure to treat it and let it go.”

Currently only 30 percent of people residing in Suva are connected to the waste water pipe while others depend on septic tanks.

He says there is a need to get more people connected to the waste water system.

“In CBD areas, like Toorak, Rewa Street, some parts of Suva and Nailuva road, they still have septic tanks. This is unacceptable in a modern city. Everybody needs to connect to the waste water and its collected and treated.”

Improving waste water infrastructure is o part of WAF’s 20 year master plan.