The Chief Executive of Water Authority of Fiji has called for the installation of water tanks as a solution to the lack of resilience and redundancy in Fiji’s water supply system.

In an interview with FBC News, Amit Chanan emphasized the importance of water tanks in building collective resilience and ensuring water security.

Comparing Fiji’s water supply system with that of Sydney, Chanan highlighted the absence of dams in Fiji, relying solely on river water without any storage capacity.

In contrast, Sydney has dams that can provide up to five years of water supply.

“I think in terms of affordability of water tanks if you can afford it my request is to go ahead and install one because the system lacks resilient the system lack redundancy so if you afford a tank and can install one it helps us build a collective resilience as a system.”

Chanan emphasized that water tanks are a critical solution to mitigate the risk of water shortages and disruptions in Fiji’s water supply system.

The CEO made a plea to those who can afford water tanks to install them, stating that having a two to three days’ supply of water at home can significantly contribute to building resilient capacity for the entire system.

The CEO urged individuals to take action and install rainwater tanks, emphasizing the need to decentralize water storage at the household level as essential in building water resilience in Fiji.

Chanan further emphasized that rainwater tanks are the most practical and effective means to ensure water resilience in Fiji, unless additional infrastructure is built after the Viria water project comes online.

He highlighted that having more rainwater tanks is the only way to decentralize and build resilience in the water supply system.