The Water Authority will be strengthening enforcement and compliance to curb issues such as tampering of WAF assets, illegal or unauthorized connections to water and sewage reticulation systems, and trade waste non-compliance.

Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says with the introduction of infringement notices, WAF will be strengthening enforcement and compliance to curb these breaches to protect its assets, the communities and the environment.

He says the Water Authority Act 2017 will be amended to allow WAF to issue infringement notices.

The Economy Minister says over the next five years, WAF will be focusing on reducing the amount of water that is lost in the system by strengthening pressure management and leak detection activities.

The Authority will also streamline its activities by outsourcing the automation of water and wastewater systems.

WAF provides services to around 772,000 Fijians nationwide and currently has 154,383 water and 33,190 wastewater active connections.

Sayed-Khaiyum adds that the new Rewa River Water Supply Scheme Project will end water woes in the Lami-Nausori corridor with an additional 40 million liters of water per day, which will benefit over 360,000 Fijians.

WAF has been allocated $204.3 million in the 2022/2023 National Budget, which was announced last Friday.