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International Waters Project

The Samoa International Waters Project – Working to Protect Samoa’s Precious Freshwater Resources

5/3/2005

By Cherelle Jackson and Steve Menzies

The Samoa International Waters Project (IWP) is working with the village of Lepa, on the island of Upolu, to try and find practical, low cost, ways for Samoa’s rural communities to improve their access to safe drinking water.

According to a report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) some 60% of villagers in Samoa indicated that their water had to be boiled because of its poor quality. Target 10 of the MDG’s is to “halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.

The quality and quantity of water is deteriorating at many sources of water supply in Samoa.
Illnesses caused by unsafe drinking water, like typhoid and gastroenteritis, are higher for people on low incomes but this problem ultimately incurs health and economic costs for all of Samoa.

Moana Afetele Tuilaepa has been living in the village of Lepa for more than 60 years.
She says that, when it rains, the water gets dirty and the villagers either boil the water or seek water from the “siga” - a small waterfall at the base of a cliff at the edge of the village.

“Even when it is not raining we notice dirt and leaves in the tap water - that’s when we turn to the siga,” she says.

Lepa has three sources of water - the tap supplied by the catchment area, the river that runs through the village, and the siga. Moana can remember when there were only two running taps in the village but she says the siga has always been a faithful provider of water for her village and the most reliable source of fresh clean water in the whole district.

According to legend the Tiva, the daughter of a High Chief from Lepa, sits on the top of the mountain to guard the water and to ration it all year round for her people.

“We were always free with the water then, everyone had good clean water to drink, wash and to shower with. Ever since the taps were introduced we have been afraid to drink the water,” Moana says.

The IWP is funded by the Global Environment Facility and co-managed by Samoa’s Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment (MNRE) and the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). Throughout the region the IWP is working with pilot communities in 14 Pacific Island countries to strengthen management of coastal fisheries, waste, and freshwater. Only two IWP projects, in the Cook Islands and Samoa, are looking directly at how Pacific Island communities can protect the quality of fresh water, particularly in areas where there is currently no water treatment.

In 2002 the IWP established a National Task Force consisting of major stakeholders from the Government, community and non-government organizations to help implement the goals of the project. The two major stakeholders in the IWP include the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment and Samoa Water Authority.

In Samoa there is no single agency with responsibility for the water sector. MNRE is responsible for water resource and watershed management and the Samoa Water Authority is responsible for providing water services.

The management of these water resources is fragmented and there is a lack of community involvement in water resource management

Cabinet endorsed the National Water Resources Policy in 2001 and more recent work has focused on the National Water Services Policy. If implemented the National Water Resources Policy is expected to lead to greater public involvement in the protection of watershed areas from the adverse impacts of human activities. Although the political will is there the implementation of this policy has been hampered by a lack of financial and human resources.

Currently community understanding and appreciation of responsible water management is low. There is poor understanding of the health problems caused by untreated water supplies and people don’t want to pay government water charges that could be used to upgrade these services.

The SWA service covers 68% of the population. Only one third of these people currently receive treated water and the remaining 32% of the population either receive water from independent village schemes or their own small sources. There is no treatment of any independent scheme and many are in a poor state of repair. It is estimated that over $100 million tala will have to be invested over the next 5 years to improve water supply, sanitation and resource management in Samoa.

Chief Executive Officer of Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment, Dr Tu’u’u leti Taulealo, says the International Waters Project was timely for Samoa.

“Samoa decided to deal with freshwater, because we had spent quite a bit of money and investment on waste reduction and coastal fisheries but no solid investment on freshwater protection. For Samoa it is an opportune time, we have taken advantage of that to build capacity for our own people,” he says.

Taufasia John Tagiilima, Assets Engineer for Samoa Water Authority, says water testing in Lepa detected contamination from erosion and farming activity in the catchment area. “We advised the village on the best way to end the problem and they have been very active in pursuing some positive advice,” he says.

Maturo Paniani, the National Coordinator of the Samoa IWP, says Lepa has now made the decision to keep 30 meters on either side of the catchment area clear from any damaging activities. The community is now working to remove their plantations and cattle from the catchment area and they have been conducting regular communal cleanups of the riverbank and the falling springs.

In the case of Lepa the village council of Matai are responsible with the support of the whole village, in particular the women’s committee. Any work related to the water supply has to go through the village council and this according to Maturo this is the best way to ensure that an activity is carried through.

“The importance of the project has been in observing ways to work together with the community to protect freshwater resources. This has been very positive and we have received full cooperation from the village council,” he says.

The first activity of the project was to create greater awareness of how activities in the catchment are contributing to water quality and health problems. According to Tu’u’u, once the people have an understanding of the problem they will then be able to work towards eliminating it.

Taufasia says that the IWP is playing a very important role in making villages aware of how important it is to protect their freshwater resources and for people to understand the effects of their daily activities, such as plantations and farming, on the quality of their water. According to Samoa Water Authority the quality of water in Lepa has improved since IWP introduced positive measures to protect the catchment area.

“It is a long term change but this all depends on cooperation from the village. If the villages continue to maintain tree planting and other activities, to ensure the purity of their water sources, there will be great change in the quality of water,” Taufasia says.

The true test of the International Waters Project will be if Samoa’s other villages continue to take care of their catchment areas and protect their freshwater resources after the project ends in December 2006. This will only occur if the lessons from Lepa can be used to help guide the development of effective policies for other similar rural communities throughout the country.

ENDS

Contact Name	Steve Menzies
e-mail	stevem@sprep.org
Phone	(685) 21929 Ext 268
Fax	(685) 20231

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