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Improved water quality monitoring data management

Wednesday, 21 July 2010 11:13 administrator
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The Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) received training on the use of the Water Quality Monitoring (WQM) database on the 15th July 2010. The training was facilitated by the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) at the WAF national conference room.

The electronic Access-based WQM database has been developed as part of the regional water quality monitoring and drinking water safety planning programmes of SOPAC and WHO. The database was developed for regional use in partnership with the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) and the New Zealand Ministry of Health and trialled and tested in the selected Pacific island countries of Niue, Cook Islands, Samoa and Marshall Islands.
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The database is largely intended to store drinking water quality data but is capable of handling environmental data (e.g. coastal and lagoon waters) as well. The key features of the database include:
  • ease of storing water quality data electronically and ability to retrieve it easily when required.
  • ability to compare improvements in quality of water from source to distribution.
  • alerts when results are of health concern so that appropriate action could be taken.
  • ability to produce results, tabular and graphically, for reporting purposes.
  • ability to produce report with varying degree of detail for sharing to concerned parties as required.
  • ability to recognise source of result, that is, which agency did the testing.
  • user friendly version.

The Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) had requested support from SOPAC and WHO on improving their water quality data management. This training was conducted to guide the WAF officials from various treatment plants on the use of the WQM database for improved data management.

Contact:
Tasleem Hasan, Water Services Coordinator, SOPAC
Kamal Khatri, Integrated Water Programmes Officer, WHO

Last Updated on Tuesday, 03 May 2011 17:13  

Newsflash

Nukualofa, Friday 16 March 2012: How exactly will climate change impact the lives of people living on small islands and what can be done to adapt to those impacts? On Lifuka Island in Tonga’s Ha’apai group, a project to find answers to this question is underway. The answer could help people around the Pacific and the world prepare  for, and adapt to, climate change.

The project is part of the Pacific Adaptation Strategy Assistance Program (PASAP) and aims to assess the vulnerability and adaptation to sea level rise in Lifuka. It is being run by the Government of Tonga with the assistance of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Tonga Community Development Trust (TCDT).

Fuka Kitekei’aho, National Coordinator for PASAP, said that Lifuka was chosen because it had already experienced sea level rise as a result of an earthquake in May 2006.

“The earthquake measured approximately 7.9 on the Richter scale and resulted in subsidence of 23 cm of the western side of Lifuka Island,” Mr Kitekei’aho said. “In the past four years, the island has experienced significant coastal erosion over a three kilometre section of the coastline, including where the harbour, homes, and hospital are located.”