Case study 3; Suva Fiji

Suva Fiji's water struggle

Video available on youtube:

Pacific community, (2015). Adapting to Climate Change in FSM. The Food & Water Security Dimension.. [image] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ggydf89Et0&index=16&list=PLCq-WnF3Hdrg22yE1eShnPWBZARK13wIv [Accessed 7 May 2015].

Suva is Fiji's largest settlement other than Port Moresby. Low permeability soils affect septic tanks and pit latrines. The current water management infrastructure over flows into the environment regularly and struggles to meet demands (Keen, 2003). Some problems were a lack of definition in roles of water companies and lack of resources in the Health department meaning they cannot monitor water problems. Water companies collect data but this is not accessible by the Health Department (Keen, 2003). A problem with this island like some of the previous is again property rights. Land has traditionally been divided between 87% Native land , 12% Crown land and 1% Free hold. Native land relies on leases and some villages have been built on land still owned by the previous owners. In these settlements the people do not pay rates for services and water provisions (Keen, 2003) . 

Keen, M. (2003). Integrated water management in the South Pacific: policy, institutional and socio-cultural dimensions. Water Policy, 1(1), pp.147-164. 

Blog context

This blog is created by Anna Caygill.
URL is:
http://atollwatermanagement.blogspot.co.uk

It has been created for my third year Water Management module in an Environmental Management Degree.
 To create this I used google blogger.
This blog is aimed at university students and young travellers who may be interested in water management issues on atoll islands. Includes references and Case studies that may be useful for research in these areas and videos to give a better understanding.

Sea level rise Kiribati

Video from Youtube highlighting the problems with Kiribati and sea level rise due to climate change.

AJ+, (2015). Kiribati: The Islands Being Destroyed By Climate Change. [image] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P7jXveokDY [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Case study 2; South Tarawa

South Tarawa Micronesia

Image above showing pollution in South Tarawa taken from ; 

Mathiesen, K. (2015). The Pacific islands losing a way of life to climate change – in pictures. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2015/mar/17/pacific-islands-losing-way-of-life-to-climate-change-in-pictures [Accessed 6 May 2015].

A population density of 46,000 which is 2,600 people per every square meter, this compared to 265 in the United Kingdom (World Bank, 2015) is a high population density.

Islands rely on shallow groundwater, rainwater tanks and desalination for water (Moglia et al, 2008).

Problems that have been encountered in water management are :

• Limited human resources 
• Isolation
• System Complexity (traditional views of rural population not supporting new strategies)

Lack of water on the island means lack of water for business and agriculture.  Meaning only 20% of the population are in employment (Moglia et al, 2008). 

Agriculture on atolls can also cause problems;

Tongatapu, the main island in the kingdom of Tonga has high rainfall but no freshwater resources. High rainfall and fast absorption due to soil type means it can sustain some agriculture. This lead to an influx of squash production and also increased use of fertilisers. The increase in fertilisers polluted the groundwater causing mass eutrophication which was added to by leaking septic tanks (Velde et al, 2007). Lack of water for households has had an impact on child mortality and health (Moglia et al, 2008).

The potential for water collection on this island is great but there is a lack of households with facilities. Property rights have caused conflicts when water reserves have been planned on private land (Perrez, 2003).

One traditional form of water management is 'taro pits' these are holes dug in the land with layers of plants and organic mulch onto forming humidity pockets (Bridges, Mclatchy, 2009).

'Taro pit' traditional agriculture in South Tarawa Micronesia. Taken from;

 Spc.int, (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.spc.int/lrd/cepactacc/swamptaro.php [Accessed 6 May 2015].

References:

Perez, Pascal, et al. (2003) ”AtollScape: Simulating Freshwater Management in Pacific atolls, Spatial processes and time dependence issues." Proc. of the International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, MODSIM. Vol. 4.

Bridges, K. and McClatchey, W. (2009). Living on the margin: Ethnoecological insights from Marshall Islanders at Rongelap atoll. Global Environmental Change, 19(2), pp.140-146.

Data.worldbank.org, (2015). Population density (people per sq. km of land area) | Data | Table. [online] Available at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST [Accessed 1 May 2015].

Moglia, M., Perez, P. and Burn, S. (2008). Water troubles in a Pacific atoll town. Water Policy, 10(6), p.613.

Case study 1; Water Management in the Maldives

The Maldives a Luxury resort in Water crisis

Image taken from;

National Geographic, (2015). Top 10 Beaches - Travel - National Geographic. [online] Available at: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/beaches/ [Accessed 6 May 2015].

The Republic of Maldives is a chain of 1900 small coral islands grouped into 26 atolls located South West of India (Ibrahim et al, 2002). Amongst these only 200 are inhabited and 87 used for resorts (Ibrahim et al, 2002).

Image showing a satellite image of the Republic of Maldives. Taken from;

Istanbul-visit.com, (2015). Maldives Map and Maldives Satellite Images. [online] Available at: http://www.istanbul-visit.com/en/maldives-map.asp [Accessed 6 May 2015].

The Maldives has a population of 345,023 and about a quarter of these live on the main island of Male (World Bank, 2015).  Maldivian's rely on rainwater collection for drinking water and groundwater for domestic uses (Ibrahim, 2002). Traditional rain water comes from well's however Bell 1883 declared wells unsafe due to poor sanitation. Policy on the islands is that 10 litres of water per day per person is met (Health Master Plan, 1996-2005). 

Rainwater is collected in tanks made of steel , ferro cement and high density polythene which the Ministry of Health have helped to supply (Ibrahim, 2002).

Example of rainwater storage in tourist resorts. 

Image taken from ;Rhinotanks.com.au, (2015). Rhinex :: Water Catchment Calculator. [online] Available at: http://www.rhinotanks.com.au/rhinex/index.php/catchment_calculator/ [Accessed 6 May 2015].

A mass amount of Tourism in the Maldives is because of underwater reefs and shallow water lagoons, sandy beaches and rich island vegetation (Kunder et al, 2013).

In Kadholhudhoo and Male the fresh water lens has become polluted by poor sanitation facilities creating a greater push for other methods such as Desalination plants which have been invested in throughout the Maldives mostly located on resort islands (Ibrahim, 2002). Tourist islands use desalinised water for domestic uses and bottled water for consumption (Ibrahim, 2002). A very small percentage of islands discharge sewage into the sea, this can mean that there may be contamination of  bathing waters. Most resorts pump sewage into septic tanks and the effluent is treat using natural processes and soil absorption (Kunder, 2013).

References:

Kunder, S. and Murthy, K. (2015). Environmental Impacts of Tourism and Management in Maldives. International journal of environmental science, 2(1). 

Data.worldbank.org,(2015).Maldives|Data.[online]Availableat: http://data.worldbank.org/country/maldives [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Ibrahim, S., Bari, M. and Miles, L. (2015). Water resources management in Maldives with an emphasis on desalination. Maldives water and Sanitation Authority, 1(1).

Introduction to Water on Atolls

Introduction to water on Atolls 

There are over 50,000 small tropical islands in the Pacific , Indian and Atlantic Oceans with around 8000 of these inhabited. These small islands are formed as sand cays, coral atolls or small elevated limestone islands (White et al, 2007). Atolls composed of small shallow islands surrounding a shallow lagoon (Bailey et al, 2010). Very small surface area, low elevation and in some cases high population density leads to a strain on water resources (White et al, 2007; Bailey, 2010). Islands rely on rainwater collection and a freshwater lens (Hunt, 1996). This freshwater lens is an unconfined aquifer under the island with fresh water floating on top of the denser saltwater (Terry and Falkland, 2010).

The image bellow displays how a fresh water lens functions:

Fresh water Ideas For a Thirsty Planet..., (2009). Climate change and freshwater part 4...freshwater challenges of Islands. [online] Available at: https://shipbright.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/climate-change-and-freshwater-part-4-freshwater-challenges-of-islands/ [Accessed 6 May 2015].

The replenishment of this freshwater lens is dependant on on rainwater and also the geology of the island (Terry and Falkland, 2010). The vegetation types of such islands have adjusted to the hydrological settings on atolls such as coconut trees (developed to be phreatophytic) which uses shallow ground water to supply most of their moisture demands (Terry and Falkland, 2010).

However fresh water lens's are not always reliable and there are many natural causes for fresh water lens depletion;

• Physical erosion of the island (powerful storms or rising sea levels)
• Drought reduces freshwater recharge
• Lens salinisation caused by storm surges or large waves (Terry and Falkland, 2010)

Water Management problems faced by atoll islands

Most Pacific Island States to tackle problems with water management such as:

• Small population (relative to a work force however many have a large population relative to an area)
• Lack of resources 
• Susceptibility to natural disasters
• Excessive dependance on international trade
• High transportation and communication costs
• Costly administration and infrastructure 
• Lack of large businesses 

Lack of resources and economic stability in developing countries means low levels of water infrastructure and maintenance (Keen, 2003).

In the following posts I will be posting about some case studies and problems in water management faced on atoll. 

References:

White, I., Falkland, T., Perez, P., Dray, A., Metutera, T., Metai, E. and Overmars, M. (2007). Challenges in freshwater management in low coral atolls. Journal of Cleaner Production, 15(16), pp.1522-1528.

Freshwater Ideas For a Thirsty Planet..., (2009). Climate change and freshwater part 4...freshwater challenges of Islands. [online] Available at: https://shipbright.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/climate-change-and-freshwater-part-4-freshwater-challenges-of-islands/ [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Bailey, R., Jenson, J. and Olsen, A. (2010). Estimating the Ground Water Resources of Atoll Islands. Water, 2(1), pp.1-27.

Terry, J. and Falkland, A. (2009). Responses of atoll freshwater lenses to storm-surge overwash in the Northern Cook Islands. Hydrogeology Journal, 18(3), pp.749-759.

Hunt, C. (1996). Property rights and environmental management on Pacific atolls. Int J of Social Economics, 23(4/5/6), pp.221-234.