Page 5 - SOPAC Division Newsletter October - December 2011

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October – December 2011
5
Construction work is being undertaken by
Central Meridian Ltd. and will cost around
AUD150,561. Despite some delays in importing
building materials to Nauru work has progressed.
These catchments will reduce the dependence
on desalinated water during the wet season.
The B-Envelope Project will invest €500,000 into
improving water security on Nauru. While these
resources are not entirely sufficient to address
the water needs on Nauru, it will provide a
more sustainable solution to improving access
to fresh water. The Government of Nauru is
supporting implementation through supervision
of construction work and providing technical
advice on intervention initiatives.
Construction should be complete by the end of
February 2012.
Disaster Risk Reduction B-Envelope
Project of SPC/SOPAC Division Help
Nauru in Building its Resilience to
Drought
The prevailing dry period affecting most of
the Pacific small island states underscores
the importance of water management and
conservation. Nauru is taking steps to address
vulnerability to drought with the construction
of rain water catchments over all community
tanks. Desalinated water is the predominant
source of fresh water for potable use such as
cooking, drinking etc. There are about forty
five community tanks with 5,000 litre capacity
distributed throughout Nauru with three tanks
located in each community. The community
tanks are filled from the desalination plant on a
monthly basis at no charge to the community
to provide them with clean water. Due to the
high demand for potable water the community
tanks are however empty for most of the month
as most of them are not connected to any roof
catchment.
The Disaster Risk Division Reduction Project
(B-Envelope) funded by the European Union and
implemented by the SPC SOPAC is supporting
the Government of Nauru to address water
security by constructing water catchment
sheds over all community tanks. This will ensure
that they also capture rainwater and provide a
more sustainable source of clean water for the
communities.
Rainwater catchment almost completed.
Anja Grujovic
joined the SOPAC
Division in the position of ODI
Fellow Resource Economist. She
will be staying with us for the
next 2 years, working mainly on
cost benefit analyses of coastal
adaptation strategies to climate
change. Anja holds an MSc in
Economics for Development from
the University of Oxford and has
previously worked for UNAIDS
and on various development
consultancies.
Anja Grujovic
WELCOME