Rotary Pacific Water for Life Trust

The inaugural project of the FIJI Water Foundation, Rotary Pacific Water for Life Trust provides communities, schools, and health centers with the technical support and funding necessary to assess and provide the delivery of safe and clean water, by the best possible means. The program was developed by the Rotary Club of Suva East through joint sponsorship by FIJI Water, Vodafone, Golden Manufacturers, and Westpac Banking Corporation, and has set its goal at 100 new water projects this year. Sixty-eight are currently in progress, while completed projects have already touched communities from Vanua Levu to the Mamanuca Islands.

The Good Neighbor International

Vunisoco is a remote village in the Namosi province whose 100+ inhabitants regularly take their water supply from a nearby stream. The Good Neighbor International, a Suva-based NGO, liaised with members of this community to help them prioritize and design a plan to address these issues. With their new water tanks, the community now has a centralized, clean, reliable storage for their drinking water where none existed before.

Navesau High School Water Project

Navesau Adventist High School is a rural school in the Ra Province catering to 280 students, 200 of whom are boarding on campus along with 25 teachers living on the school compound. The school is highly regarded for its programs and attracts international scholarship students from throughout the South Pacific. Until recently they relied upon collected rainwater for drinking while washing was done in untreated water from the nearby Wainibuka river. With FIJI Water Foundation funding and project management, they now have a fully functional borehole and pump and tank system. In addition, the school’s new generator allows not only for more efficient pumping, but also produces enough power for the newly established computer lab.

Soroptomists School Water Projects 

Soroptimists International is a public service club composed of professional women. The active Ba-area branch fundraises and manages projects benefitting women and children and promoting advancement in human rights. FIJI Water Foundation has teamed up with the Soroptimists to improve water supply to two Ba-based primary schools, Naloto and Shastri. These schools, which serve a total of 190 students, regularly face water cuts and are forced to cancel classes.  We have equipped them with back up water storage and delivery systems so that students and teachers will not face these disruptions. As the Soroptimists know well, the first step to improving the qualify of Fiji's schools is to equip them with the necessary infrastucture.

Malomalo Primary School Water Project

Malomalo serves 136 multi-racial students as well as the teachers and their families who live in the school compound. Until recently, they have encouraged children to bring their own water to school, as the rainwater tanks at were rusted and the school well draws brackish water. Thanks to FIJI Water Foundation funding, they have purchased new plastic 1750L water tanks and fittings. Their headmistress reports that now “children have a safe, clean source of drinking water.”

Kioa Island

A community of about 600 ethnic Polynesians originally from the island nation of Tuvalu live on the remote island of Kioa, off the coast of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Although the Kioans love their Fiji home, they have struggled to get adequate water supply. Ever since a landslide blocked the access to the island’s only spring, they have relied upon rain water catchment. Now thanks to FIJI Water Foundation partnership donation of 24 5,000L tanks, they have enough water storage capacity for their large village, school and health centre. 

Viwa Village Water Project

Viwa village in Tailevu has a population of about 200 people and is the only village on the small island of Viwa. According to the local chief, the Roko Tui Viwa, accessing abundant, safe, clean water has always been a struggle for Viwa. “Our ancestors dug and collected water in ponds for bathing, drinking, and cooking. We would keep our teeth closed when drinking yaqona to keep the tadpoles out.” There are no rivers, springs, or groundwater on the small island, leaving only rain water catchment as the only safe option. Now, thanks to FIJI Water Foundation, they finally have capacity they need for access to safe, clean water. Tanks, rust-resistant paint, piping, gutters, and other materials were provided by FIJI Water Foundation, while all labor was overseen and managed by the Viwa Development Committee. The community worked without cease for 8 weeks to complete the project, realizing this project by way of a truly collective effort.

Savatu Primary School Water Project

In the mountainous interior of Vitilevu, near the borders of Ra, Ba, and Navosa Provinces is Savatu Primary boarding school. Students travel miles on horseback and on foot from Highland villages to attend this school, live, and eat there during the week, but for years they have been sent home during the dry season due to lack of water. Thanks to FIJI Water Foundation’s borehole project, students now have sufficient clean water supply for drinking, cooking, washing, and hygiene throughout the year.

Give Clean Water

In partnership with Give Clean Water, the FIJI Water Foundation has funded and participated in the installation of 300 water filters in as many homes in the Ba area. Give Clean Water, Inc. was established in 2008 as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization under the laws of the state of California. Our mission is to provide clean water filters and hygiene and sanitary education to families around the world who are in need of clean water. According to the World Health Organization, 1.8 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases. Globally it is the leading cause of illness and death and 88% of diarrhoeal deaths are attributed to unsafe water supply, inadequate sanitation and hygiene. Since 2008, Give Clean Water has installed over 1,000 household water filters in communities around Nadi and Ba. In 10 years, the team aims to install a filter in every home in Fiji. The filter, made by Sawyer Products, is known as the Point One Filter. It removes 99.999% of all bacteria, protozoa, and cysts like E.Coli, Cholera and Typhoid, preventing many water-bourne diseases which are common during times of flood and water shortage. The filters come with one million gallon guarantee –essentially guaranteed for the recipient’s lifetime. The village nurse of one recipient community said, “This will be an immense help to us. We often have water cuts and we have to walk to get water from the Indian family down the road. During the floods we only had the river. Now we can use this filter to drink river water or rain water. I will encourage everyone to use this.”