Minister for Infrastructure, Jone Usamate at a recent tour of Water Treatment Plants in Suva

The Water Authority aims to provide one hundred percent access to clean and safe water in urban areas by 2021.

This was highlighted by Infrastructure Minister, Jone Usamate while delivering his ministerial statement yesterday in parliament.

Usamate says accessibility to proper water supply in urban areas currently is eighty-four percent compared to seventy percent in 2016.

“We know that investment in water and sanitation is investment in Health and it is also investment in overall cost savings to government. According to the World Health Organization for every one dollar that we spent in safe drinking water and sanitation, the return in $3.03 to $34.”

Meanwhile Usamate says for rural and maritime areas, the Water Authority wants to achieve one hundred percent access by 2031.