SPC Geoscience Division

Yaren, July 3, 2012: Nauru is pushing forward with action to deal with one of the country’s most significant development hurdles, water and sanitation.

“In February this year Nauru released its first National Water and Sanitation Policy to address the significant threats, identify key response areas and ensure the water and sanitation needs of a wide range of stakeholders is met,” Haseldon Buraman, National Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Coordinator, said. “We have since produced an implementation plan to turn that policy into action.”

Water supply and sanitation issues in Nauru are amongst the most complex and challenging in the world. Frequent and severe droughts, increasing demand for freshwater, and pollution threats to its limited groundwater supply put Nauru in a precarious situation. Added to this is Nauru’s reliance on aging infrastructure and energy-intensive desalination, the challenge of securing sustainable funding sources, and coping with the projected impacts of climate change.

These are all issues that the Government of Nauru hopes to overcome through applying an integrated approach to managing its scarce water resources.