New lab to improve monitoring of Tonga water quality [1]
Monday, December 2, 2019 - 18:38
By Pesi Fonua
Access to quality drinking water depends on where you live, and what you can afford. A new laboratory to be opened on December 12 will help Public Health inspectors assess the quality of drinking water, particularly from village supplies.
Apart from individuals who can afford to set up their own rainwater water supply systems with filters to cater for their daily needs, the rest of the population rely on either the Tonga Water Board, a public enterprise that runs the town water supplies, or the village water committees, which set up their own water systems, some with the assistance of foreign aid donors.
If you live in the capital Nuku'alofa or the three other main centers of Pangai in the Ha’apai Group, Neiafu in the Vava’u Group, and the island of ‘Eua, you will have access to the Tonga Water Board piped water service. According to the Head Chemist of the Tonga Water Board, Timote Fakatava, chemicals are injected into the holding tanks of the Tonga Water Board source tanks at Mata-ki-'Eua, Pangai, Ha'apai and Neiafu, Vava‘u every morning and in the evening “to kill any bacteria, and any impurities, every day before the water is released for public consumption.”
Timote said that the depth of the Mata-ki-‘Eua water table, which is the Nuku’alofa water source, is about 13 meters. Maintaining the quantity of the water table at this depth is essential to maintain the quality of the water. However, he said that during the dry season the level can go down to 12 meters depth, but fortunately so far it has been just enough to maintain a quality water supply.
He said that the treatment of the Tonga Water Board water source at 'Eua is different because the water source comes straight from a river and it has not been fiiltered through soil, rock and sand. He said they needed more water tanks to filter the 'Eua water through, but for the meantime they were treated with different chemicals combination before the water is released for public consumption.
Village water committees
The village water committees cater for the water needs of all the villages throughout Tonga, outside of the main centres which are covered by the Tonga Water Board.
The supervision and the maintaining of the quality of the villages water resource is the responsibility of the Supervisor of the Public Health Inspector, Sela ‘Akolo Fa’u.
Sela admitted that maintaining the quality of a village water supply was not an easy task.
Checks on the quality of the water in the community tanks had not been done as regularly as they would like, because they were using the hospital laboratory which is too busy, and there were long delays.
Sela said that they had moved away from working with the Hospital Laboratory to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
New laboratory
Sela announced that on 12 December they would have their own Laboratory for the testing of the villages water supplies, donated by the New Zealand government.
Commercial water suppliers also cater for the demand for quality drinking water, supplying bottled drinking water. This will also be tested in the new laboratory.
Commercial water suppliers and breweries in Nuku’alofa use nearly two million litres of water from the Tonga Water Board water a month.
According to Timote, commercial bottlers simply lighten up the water by filtering out some of its essential content.
Ground water issues
Tonga’s groundwater source sits underneath community settlements and commercial developments making it vulnerable to over exploitation and mismanagement. The quantity and quality of groundwater is at high risk from pollution. Managing and sustaining groundwater resources is critical to control reduction of surface water, and salt water intrusion.