Clean Water for a Healthy Samoa

Samoa’s theme for World Water Day (WWD) 2010 was "Clean Water for a Healthy Samoa".  The day was an ideal opportunity for the Samoa Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) project to raise awareness and build capacity around IWRM concepts. Government officials and stakeholders from different sectors were invited to the opening ceremony and Year 12 science students from colleges around Upolu and Savaii were invited to take part in planned awareness and capacity building activities. Buses displaying the IWRM project signs were used to pick up students early that morning from as far as the Mulifanua Wharf on the eastern side of Upolu Island.

 More then 300 people attended the ceremony, including the Deputy Prime Minister of Samoa, the Honourable Misa Telefoni, and the Australian, New Zealand and Chinese High Commissioners. The event was officially opened by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s CEO Susuga Taulealeausumai Laavasa Malua who welcomed everyone and explained this year’s theme. The keynote speech was given by the Minister of Natural Resources & Environment, the Honourable Faumuina Liuga Tiatia, who focussed on the meaning of the WWD and its importance to the Samoan people.

The morning’s events ended with an invitation for officials to take part in a tree planting ceremony, which not only marked WWD but also served as the Watershed contribution to the Samoa One Million Tree campaign. Each tree planted by an official was labelled with their name.

The rest of the day focussed on awareness and capacity building activities for the school students. It started with a presentation from the Hydrology section of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s (MNRE) Water Resources Division, the Ministry of Health, and the Samoa Water Authority. The joint presentation addressed challenges and solutions to achieve clean water and enhanced awareness on the relationship between quality of our water resources and our drinking water.

The presentation was followed by field trips that included more tree planting around watershed catchments and a water quality monitoring exercise where students and the public were able to test water quality on five sites around the Loimata o Apaula catchment. Parameters such as turbidity, temperature, saturation, acidity, and dissolved oxygen were tested using portable kits organised for the day.

The day ended with a session where students reviewed and discussed their water tests results and attending schools were presented with World Water Day Participation Certificates to commemorate this special day.

It was a very successful day and made possible through the generous sponsorship of the Water Sector Support Program (WaSSP), the Samoa IWRM Project and the tireless efforts of the Ministry of Natural and Environment’s Water Resource Division personnel who made sure the venue and sites were ready for the occasion.

Sam Semisi, National IWRM Demonstration Project Manager