New water storage for Burelevu

Burelevu is a small village located on Kadavu Island, Fiji’s fourth-largest island in the south of the country. Around 200 people live in Burelevu. The main work in the village is farming—growing crops such as yaqona (i.e. kava) and root crops like dalo and tavioca (i.e. cassava).

Burelevu has an existing spring water system that takes water from an uphill stream down to the village. However the system had zero water storage, it was just a set of pipes from the intake to the village homes. This meant that the system regularly ran out of water and the higher houses in the village rarely got any water at all. This system worked when the village was very small, with only three or four houses, but now was inadequate for the more than 20 houses in the community.

In Fiji, government support for water in rural communities is limited. Villages are largely expected to find and manage their own water systems, with the support of various NGOs. Most villages have rudimentary systems directing water from nearby streams to a central tank, but many are aging and unreliable – only providing water for a few hours in the morning, or none at all during the dry season.

The Caritas Fiji team was doing a technical in Nasalia in November 2024, the neighboring village to Burelevu, that is only two kilometers away. During the assessment of the Nasalia project, the Caritas Fiji had the village headman from Burelevu approach to discuss issues with their water system, to see if we could provide some assistance. The problem was very obvious to the team, there was a high-quality water source, but no storage to ensure reliable long term water supply.

At first the team was not sure we would be able to help, due to a highly limited budget. However, the team discovered that there was a water tank in Nasalia catchment area that was not being used. It had been donated to Nasalia several years ago in 2022 by the National Disaster Management Office as a result of the earlier cyclone Yasa, but was not able to be used by the village because it did not have the right fittings for their water system.

The Caritas Fiji team had a discussion with Nasalia village and whether they might be able to donate the nearby tank to Burelevu since Caritas Australia and Caritas Fiji had just significantly uplifted their water system. Nasalia village was happy to do so and the team set about planning to move the tank to Burelevu after finishing in Nasalia. The Caritas team also needed to refit and test the tank to ensure it could be used in Burelevu.

The tank was first taken from Nasalia catchment area down to the main road by the villagers. This is not easy, as the tanks weigh more than 500kg and can be easily damaged if not handled carefully. The Caritas Fiji team generally recommends using local timber to use it to carry the tank, requiring at least eight people to lift and move the tank from one location to another. This involved moving the tank over two stream crossings, as shown in the first photo.

The tank was then loaded onto a 4×4 truck and taken to Burelevu, while half the team followed on foot. The truck needed to go very slowly, only two or three kilometers per hour, to make sure the tank was safe and the team could supervise and guide.

Next the team built a tank stand for Burelevu’s new water tank. This is required to keep the tank safe over the long term from erosion and give it a bit of extra height to add water pressure. The full tank weights more than 10.5 tonnes.

The team had to collect boulders and mix cement with rebars to create a strong foundation. The stand was then left to dry for at least 7 days. The team worked on this project at the same time as they were working on the site in Nasalia.