BY MORRIS NAFU

In the lush landscapes in the peninsula of Star Harbour district in Makira-Ulawa Province, water is more than a necessity – it’s the lifeline that sustains life, health, and community.

Yet, for the residents of Namuga sub-station and the neighbouring Namamaru Village, this essential resource has become a daily battle, leaving families, government workers, and even a soon-to-open mini-hospital grappling with severe shortages.

Namuga stands as one of the remaining provincial sub-stations in the province, a testament to its historical significance.

It was here that the late Queen Elizabeth II first set foot on Solomon Islands soil and delivered her inaugural royal address.

Today, the station houses government officers, including police, nurses, and teachers from primary and secondary schools.

Micro infrastructure developments and new businesses have boosted the area’s potential, but the persistent water crisis threatens to undermine it all.

The newly constructed mini-hospital, scheduled for operation, faces immediate hurdles due to the water outage.

Barbra, the nurse-in-charge at Namuga Area Health Centre (AHC), voiced her deep concerns as a frontline health worker.

“Water has been our daily encounter especially for clinic operations.

We really do need clean water for clinic daily operations, especially when carrying out deliveries for mothers and other services that require water,” she said.

The clinic has installed water tanks, but they often run dry during the dry seasons. While water is drawn from a nearby temporary dam, it fails to meet health standards for clinical use, limiting it to toilets and minor operations.

“We manage to pull a water from a nearby water dam in the area but we use it only for toilets and other minor clinic uses as it is not meet health standards for clinical uses,” she said.

Community Elder Alfred Murray from Namamaru Village described the issue as one of the worst troubling the area.

The old water supply system, built shortly after Solomon Islands gained independence nearly 40 years ago through the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program, has deteriorated without repairs. The PVC pipes have broken down, leaving taps and pipes in disrepair.

Residents now rely on rainwater tanks, a risky solution in a region disposed to droughts and unreliable weather patterns.

“This is an issue our national and provincial governments should address urgently,” Murray emphasized.

“Namuga hosts not only community members but also government officers living in the station.

We’ve tried to fix it ourselves, but lack of resources has limited our efforts. Our young men will usually follow the pipes, wrap leaking sections with rubber, and clean the dam, but it’s not effective.

We really do need assistance from the authorities.

The Authorities should not forget us like this. It’s time for authorities to step in.” Murray said.

One young man who always leads the boys in the village to fix the water Ballan Siapu said that all they could do is to use temporary ideas to fix the water.

“Usually when fixing the water, sometimes it took us all day just to see it arrive for not more than a day and shuts down again.

What we usually do is to follow the pipe and tied leaked pipes with rubbers and clean the dam just to see it damage a day after or two.

All the pipes are wound out and really need replacement and full overhaul of the water supply from the very dam to the stand pipes,” he said.

Sometime my boys get tired to fix the water seeing pouring out all their effort just to see the water tap stops running day after.

In 2020, the Rural Development Program (RDP) under the Ministry of Provincial Government provided seven water tanks, but this fell short of meeting the full demand. Women and elderly residents bear the brunt of the crisis, trekking to a small dam or a single standpipe 10-15 minutes away for drinking, cooking, and washing.

Unice Wapira, a concerned mother, shared her frustrations: “As a mother with household responsibilities—preparing food, arranging chores—finding water is a huge inconvenience.

We have to carry heavy loads to the nearest source, and with only one available, it takes hours for everyone to take turns.” Thanks to the family who owned the water that allows us to use their water

She calls on responsible authorities to see their cry and as it is not just water but life of the community.

Murray noted that the crisis extends beyond the community to government workers at Namuga.

Even ships docking at the wharf as the only one in the eastern part of the island to refill water supplies are met with empty standpipes, highlighting the broader economic and logistical impacts.

As Namuga and Namamaru Village cry out for solutions, the call for government intervention grows louder.

With water as the foundation of life, addressing this crisis is not just a necessity—it’s a matter of sustaining a healthy, thriving society in one of vital outposts in the province.

*Reporting for this story was supported by Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS)

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