Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Water. The plants would be crying if they could spare the moisture to produce tears. Instead, they are just shriveling up. The plants, the garden, our food supply, is suffering because of the lack of water on the island. The problem is not that we don’t get enough rain. We get more than enough rain between the months of November and May. The problem is storage. Basically, we are wasting huge amounts during the rainy season. For this project to be successful, this problem needs to be fixed before the end of the upcoming rainy season.

A few days ago, Tevita, Leavi,and I sat down to determine how many calories we need to get out of the garden and how much space we will need to do it. The island has enough land with enough decent soil that if we can store an additional 40k liters of water, we should be able to produce all of our vegetables year round.

I did the necessary soil tests for the pond and discovered that the soil contains too much sand to hold any water. Without a plastic liner, this option is not possible.

We also looked into the plastic water tanks. The tanks themselves cost between $2500-$3000 for a 10k liter tank. Add to that the cost of shipping and the materials needed to build a base for them we estimate that to get the neccessary 40k liters we are looking at a cost of about $12,000-$13,000 fjd.

We quickly began looking for a more elegant solution. I am happy to report that We have found one.

It is, of course, the solution that was originally put forward by the Fijians at the beginning of this mad adventure.

For those of you who have been here during the rainy season, you will remember the joy of looking out at the ocean from beneath our beautiful waterfall. It is here that we have been told that we should look to find our water and we have finally found a way of doing it that makes it both cheaper than either of the other two options and will definitely cover all of our water needs.

Paul,Amy, Suzie, and I climbed up to the top of the waterfall this Sunday to survey the area and to measure the distance from there to the village. Above the falls is a natural ravine that during the rainy season fills with water and is what allows us to have a waterfall 24/7 for half the year. All we need to do is store this water. We had previously thought that piping any water from here would be cost prohibitive.

In steps Pupu to the rescue.

Using black polythene piping we can create a reliable and durable water storage area and pipe system for around $2000. Due to the fact that this area is already flooded half the year there are no large trees in the area. By creating a more permanent water basin we will increase the biodiversity and health of the ecosystem of the island so that any loss of vegetation will be quickly made up for by the added diversity that the stored water will allow. The cliff formations will enable us to do all of this without effecting the waterfall itself nor will the fruits of our activities be visible from the beach.

We would like to put this to a vote starting next week so If you have any further thoughts on this topic, now is the time to voice them.

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