The water services in Luganville operated and managed by the Department of Water Resources (DoWR) has faced huge challenges resulting in poor reliability and quality of water services in the Northern town. With the aging infrastructure and lack of maintenance on the water tanks, transmission and distribution pipes, DoWR officers in Luganville faced difficulty meeting the water demands in Luganville. The water pumps at the pump station are already operating 24 hours and seven days a week. During power interruptions, communities around Luganville could be without water for weeks as it would take days to fill up the leaking tanks.

This dilemma was confirmed by the Utilities Regulatory Authority (URA) team that visited Santo last week from 14^th to 18^th October 2024.  The Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Mr Jesse Benjamin who was part of the team said Luganville water customers deserve a better service than what is being provided. “Luganville town is an industrial hub for the country and water services in an important consideration both in terms of reliability and safety standards” the CEO stated.

The team also met with Mr Erie Sami, Project Lead for the ADB funded Luganville Water and Sanitation Project and Mr Erickson Sammy, Director for the Department of Water Resources. One of the main reasons that the Director mentioned which led to poor operation and maintenance of the water system in Luganville was the inadequate financial support from the Government. “All revenue collected from paying customers are deposited back into the Government treasury and accessing this revenue for urgent repairs and maintenance is near to impossible” the Director mentioned.

At the bilateral meeting between the Department of Water Resources and the Utilities Regulatory Authority, the Authority expressed its intention to issue penalties to DoWR for non-compliance related to reliability and safety standards for the benefit of the water customers in Luganville. An option which the URA recommended to the Director is to immediately privatise the service and have entity that can come in and operate the network.

The Authority in 2022 had inspected the network and made recommendations to the Department of Water regarding issues posing risks to the water network and its customers. While some of them have been resolved, many are still pending.