High turbidity forces Solomon Water to turn off Kongulai supply

The current heavy rainfall in Honiara has forced the Solomon Water to shut down its main Kongulai water supply causing many Honiara residents to be without water since early this week.

The shutdown was due to the high turbidity (silt and dirt particles in the water) experienced upstream due to heavy rains at the Kongulai water source.

Solomon Water Acting Chief Executive Officer, Joe Sanga in a statement said, “this is necessary to ensure water we supply is safe for distribution as we cannot produce water when the turbidity level is high as it is unsafe and poses health risk to our customers.”

“The underlying issue is due to damage to the water catchment by illegal and unmanaged logging in the Kohove and Kongulai catchment areas. The effects of this logging continues to have a direct consequence on the quality of water Solomon Water produce and is outside of Solomon Water’s control.

“Solomon Water is currently working on a new treatment plant for Kongulai which is currently in design stage, but it will not be ready until mid-2021. We are constantly monitoring the situation and will turn on supply as soon as we consider it safe to do so.”

Solomon Water apologises to its customers and further advises all customers still receiving water to store water in buckets and containers and boil all water for food preparation and consumption.

For more information, call us on phone: 23985 or email: [email protected] or visit us at facebook:www.facebook.com/SolomonWater.