With an eroding coastline on an already limited landmass, the impacts of climate change, particularly sea-level rise and pronounced droughts have severe consequences on water and sanitation in the Solomon Islands.
Tuwo community is an extremely isolated, rural village located on a small, low-lying island, part of a large coral atoll chain.
The 531 people who call Tuwo home live very close to sea level, between 0.5 – 2m elevation.
With an expensive 2-hour flight 2x/week, or a 3 day trip by ferry, this isolation means that locals are dependent on their own capacity to harvest food from community gardens, as well as fish and shellfish from the sea.
Clean drinking water – essential to life in Tuwo – is limited.
Its atoll island geography, coupled with more frequent and longer dry spells, intrusion of saltwater into water points during king tides, and evidences of increasing diseases such as diarrhea and red-eye, makes Tuwo vulnerable to water insecurity and climate change impacts.
With funding from the Global Environmental Facility’s Least Developed Countries Fund and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), theSolomon Islands Water Sector Adaptation (SIWSAP) projectis working to address water, sanitation and hygiene challenges brought on by climate change in water stressed communities in six provinces throughout the Solomon Islands.
The Tuwo Community is one of the six sites that will tackle pressing water and sanitation challenges faced today – with an eye to the future as the impacts of climate change and these challenges become more severe.
Championed by the Government of the Solomon Islands through the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification (MMERE) Water Resources Division (WRD) in partnership with Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM), and other line ministries, SIWSAP activities are designed to ensure access to safe and affordable drinking water and increase reliability and quality of water supplies in targeted areas.
Longer-term project measures are working to integrate climate-resilient water management in policy and development frameworks; encourage investments in cost-effective and adaptive water management technologies; and improve governance and knowledge management for climate change adaptation in the water sector at the local and national levels.
Water issues
Tuwoisland is dependent on rainfall and groundwater.
A total of 22 functional rainwater-harvesting systems are spread evenly across 4 village zones. Rainwater is the preferred source for drinking water.
In recent times, however, rainfall has become less reliable and the island has experienced droughts that have resulted in shortages of drinking water.
Most of the private homes in Tuwo have traditional thatched roofs, which are unsuitable for rainwater harvesting.
Ownership and sustainable management of communal rainwater assets is a challenge, with most currently requiring maintenance.
Groundwater is vulnerable to sea level rise, storm surges, coastal flooding, and saline intrusion.
During times of drought, some communities from other nearby islands are forced to travel to distant islands (such as Tuwo) to access fresh water.
With rising sea level and increasing fragility of groundwater resources, more people are being forced to travel in search of fresh water sources, adding increasing pressure and stress to remaining supplies.
After the devastating 2015-2106 El Niño event that resulted in a prolonged drought in the Solomon Islands, several island communities were experiencing severe water stress.
In response, the SIWSAP project implemented a series of ‘quick fixes’ in each of the six provinces.
These quick fixes were based on the findings of assessments conducted by Water Resource Division staff as short term measures aimed to provide immediate improvement to the quantity and quality of water available, and to address pressing issues related to sanitation and hygiene.
These were also designed to complement long-term measures to enhance the resilience of the targeted communities within the project.
In Tuwo, 9 x 5,000L water tanks were installed, on public sites including primary school buildings, community churches, and private residences.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 6.3 requires us by 2030 to ‘improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.”
Progress towards target 6.3 will also help achieve the SDGs on health and well-being (SDG 3), safe water and sanitation (SDG 6), urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (SDG 13), and life on land (SDG 15), among others.
WASTEWATER
Fewer than 10 flush toilets and very few toilet sheds (flushed by a bucket) exist for the entire island; as a result, most residents practice open defecation – with the bushes and the sea the common toilets for residents of Tuwo.
Men have one designated area on the island, and women have two, located in uninhabited areas close to the ocean.
Community members have observed that there may be increasing numbers of communicable water-borne diseases reported, such as diarrhoea, and skin diseases, as well as red eye with increasing flies due to poor sanitation.
Globally, over 80% of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused.
1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with faeces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio. Unsafe water, poor sanitation, and hygiene cause around 842,000 deaths each year.
Ripples Make Waves
SIWSAP aims to contribute to the global aspiration of the SDGs by improving the resilience of water resources against the impacts of climate change and improve health, sanitation and quality of life, so that livelihoods can be enhanced and sustained in the targeted vulnerable areas.
For Tuwo, this means more community rainwater harvesting tanks, improving uncovered wells, and encouraging community led improvements to sanitation.
Story by Andrea Egan, Ruth Ramoifuila and UNDP SIWSAP
Photos: Ruth Ramoifuila, Andrea Egan , Shoko Takemoto, and Joy Papao