Everyday water problems in Vanuatu

It’s a glorious Sunday morning here. The jungle is glistening in the sunlight, rinsed earlier by a passing shower just before sunrise. Heat and humidity are building. Birds twitter and flit around. I can hear the ocean rumbling away to itself; it’s not far, just beyond the line of trees.

Tim yearns for a sea view but I’m happy to have greenery trapping some of the salt from the sea breeze. We get a constant salty glaze on the windows and screens and there are not enough hours in the day to keep those 300 glass louvres mist free.

We must be careful with our water supply which is a good excuse not to wash windows. There is no mains water supply at this end of the island. When we moved into the house at the end of May last year, we had 25 000 litres of air in our water tanks and it was the start of the dry season. Thanks to a few heavy showers and a large, guttered roof, we collected enough water to get us through to the wet season which officially started in November. There were a few times when we were close to adding bore water to the tanks. Tim had done calculations on mixing quantities of the slightly salty bore water with rainwater to still ensure potable drinking water. Each time that we were preparing to add bore water to the tanks, it would rain and we would delay.

Unfortunately it has been a dry, wet season. We’ve been receiving messages on our phones telling us in two languages to collect every bit of rainfall as it is going to be an extended dry period. Luckily our tanks are just about full.

Mary lives not far from us, in a house on the other side of Bethel Garden Restaurant. About thirteen people including children and a baby live in Mary’s house.

Mary’s total water storage has been a 30 litre plastic drum and a collection of recycled water bottles. Every second day, people from Mary’s house come to us bearing the drum and bottles to be filled, full of apologies about pikinini drinking the water! Tim has been putting the drum on the back of the truck to fill it then driving it down the hill and around the corner, parking on the road below Mary’s house then ferrying it up the hill with the aid of his trolley. This has been going on for months.

Joylci and Joseph watch Tim fill Mary's water supply.

We’ve been really concerned about Mary not having a water tank. There are a number of adults living under Mary’s roof who could work together to solve this problem; it affects them and their children too! These people frequently ‘make market’ so they do have a source of income. Several months ago when Mary’s water crises became apparent to us, we started a conversation with Mary’s family. It was frequent and multiple versions of the following: ‘You need a rainwater tank at Mary’s house. How can you get a tank?’ We offered one solution: the family all making market for one day and using the profits to buy a tank and a length of guttering. It didn’t happen.

Over the past thirteen years, we have donated many resources to ni-Vanuatu communities. A generator, solar water bore pump, solar freezer, lighting, recharging points, batteries, panels, rechargeable torches, clothing, shoes, school supplies, sporting equipment and even an electric keyboard delivered to the remote Maskelyne Islands by special request. These gifts were much appreciated and we were delighted to contribute knowing what a difference these things make in the everyday life of local people. Yes, even the piano. I wonder if it still survives? Back then, we were earning good incomes and could afford to support these projects. Now, we are living on less money than I use to pay for taxation on my personal income. We live well but we don’t have money to contribute as before.

Many visitors donate resources to Vanuatu. Charities and Aid organisations from around the world contribute heavily and frequently. Unfortunately this sort of ‘help’ may have had an unexpected backlash. Many ni-Van expect to be given resources rather than trying to acquire necessary things for themselves. When people are given things rather than having to plan for, work for and save for these items themselves, they often don’t look after them, not appearing to be either aware of or concerned about the maintenance of gifts in order to keep them working well and to have a longer lifespan. For instance, we just had to buy a new lawnmower. The previous one lasted thirteen years because Tim serviced it, changing oil, blades and sparkplugs as required and keeping it clean and housed in a dry place. We certainly got our money’s worth out of that mower. We see our neighbours with brush-cutters and chainsaws which are used without any form of cleaning, servicing or sharpening until the thing dies, usually in a matter of months. And then it’s back to the bushknife or to find someone to buy another one for you. Yes, we’ve been asked. When that happens Tim asks to see the dead thing. Usually he is able to resurrect it with a change of spark plug or oil. People are duly amazed at his miracle making.

Back to the water problem… a few days ago, as Tim was unloading the water drum at the outdoor kitchen next to Mary’s house, something caught his eye. It looked like a water tank partly hidden in the jungle behind her house. He had a closer inspection. It was a water tank, empty but fairly clean and nowhere near the roof. Tim called Michel, Mary’s son to come and verify what he was seeing. Yes, it was Mary’s tank. It had been donated to her by an electoral candidate, two elections past so she’s had it for six to eight years. Later, Silas told us that the tank had been used to collect water from the roof years ago but the rust from the old roofing iron had made the water taste bad so Mary stopped using it and must have had the tank pulled away from the house to let the jungle swallow it which is a common way to dispose of rubbish. Sometime in the past months since we began having conversations about the urgent need for a water tank, Silas had scrubbed the tank clean but no one had yet managed to carry it to the house and set it up to collect water. No, everyone would rather come up to get water from us than set up that tank. And Tim was making it even easier for them by driving the water back to their house (which costs us money every time we start the truck) and lugging the drum up the hill by himself because the men are either absent or are happy to watch him struggle up the slope.

Tim spoke with Silas later that afternoon about the tank. The next day as Tim did the water run, planning to have another look at the tank to work out what he would need to set it up, he saw that Silas had done it! The tank had been moved under a corner of the roof and with the assistance of a few sticks and a scrap piece of iron, water could now be funneled from the roof to fill the tank. Another miracle!

Now all we need is rain. Until then Mary’s house will still be dependent on us for water but the procedure needs to be changed. If water is needed, one of the men living at Mary’s house will need to put the water drum on their wheelbarrow, bring it up, fill it then use the barrow to take it back to Mary’s place. This will save us money (by not using the truck), it will save Tim time (about half an hour each time) and most importantly, it will save me grief (I won’t have to listen to him whinging about it).

Our two 10 000 litre tanks

The 5000 litre tank near the shed overflows! That's only happened twice in the past 8 months.

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