A new water system for the people of Nasalia

Nasalia is a small village located on Kadavu Island, Fiji’s fourth-largest island in the south of the country. Around 200 people live in Nasalia. 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).

The village was relying on an old water system put in approximately 30 years ago, with one large concrete tank. The system was not working well, the water tank was leaking and collapsing and only provided intermittent water to the village. A full overall of the system was required to get the village a reliable water supply.

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 village reached out directly to Caritas Fiji in early 2023 for support with their water. The project was earmarked for Catholic Relief Services funding, but USAID withdrew its global funding in 2024. Since it was already scheduled, Caritas Australia generously stepped in and supported the project.

The Caritas team arrived at the village and presented a SevuSevu, traditional protocol for entering the village. Afterwards, with the village headman, the team did a technical assessment of the site, identifying the water source and the issues with the existing system.

Like with most Caritas Fiji WASH projects – the team designed a gravity only system – it has no electronics or pumps – to ensure it is able to be cared for by the local community with local resources. This ensures long term sustainability – there are many examples of well-intentioned complex water systems in Fiji being built and then not surviving the Fiji wet season.

Fifteen tons of supplies were used for this project including cement, sand, blocks, timber, rebar and various other construction material. The team purchased the material in Suva and transported it to Suva wharf on a truck. It then went on overnight ship to Vunisea, the main port in Kadavu. The supplies were again unloaded and then reloaded onto a truck and driven another 2 hours drive to Nasalia.

Unloading the supplies in Nasalia was one of the biggest challenges of the project. The area is steep, with difficult terrain and does not have easily accessible roads – which meant the supplies needed to be transported by foot. It then took the entire village to carry the supplies about 500 meters up a steep hill to the location of the tank. In total transporting the supplies took almost four days.

The Caritas Fiji team generally lives on site with the community for the duration of the project, often several months. The community lead the design of the system and do most of the work building the system, Caritas Fiji just provides the technical guidance, expertise and structure to deliver the projects. This ensures the community is invested in the new system and ensures it is maintained and delivers long term quality water supply.

There were four separate teams working simultaneously on the project in Nasalia.

The first team created the bypass of the old tank, to make sure the village still had some access to water during the construction. This involved disconnecting the old line from the water tank and then adding a new line to let water flow directly from the water source to the village.

Then immediately the second team started refurbishing the old cement tank. This involved first putting a layer of plaster around the outside and insides of the tank. Then a lawyer of chicken wire mesh was added to create strength in the tank – basically a form of rebar. Then another two layers of plaster were added, and the tank was left to cure for seven days including flushing out the cement tank with water to wash away dirt and cement residue.

At the same time a third team ran a new line the water tank to the two overhead passes to get the main line across the stream, particularly to keep the line safe during heavy rain and flooding.

The fourth team upgraded the infrastructure at the spring. This involved new concrete walls, a new roof and new fencing.

The final team worked on a new washout at the end of the line. This involved an enormous amount of digging, including creating a 2×2 meter chamber with 50mm washout. After almost a month of work the teams finished upgrading the Nasalia water system.