Solomon Islands Water Authority, trading as Solomon Water has served customers and communities for more than 27 years since its inception in 1992. We provide municipal water and wastewater services in Honiara, the capital of Solomon Islands, and municipal water services in the provincial urban centers of Auki, Noro and Tulagi.
Solomon Water is a State Owned Enterprise (SOE), wholly owned by the government of the Solomon Islands, and is governed by a Board of Directors that is responsible to the Minister of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification, and the Minister of Finance and Treasury.
During the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Solomon Water benefitted from various technical assistance projects provided by development partners, and grant aid infrastructure investments from Asian Development Bank (ADB).The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) built infrastructure, much of which is still operational today, whilst others were either destroyed or damaged during the “ethnic tensions” from 1997 to 2002.
Through the period from 2000 to 2010, Solomon Water was approaching a state of collapse. Political instability, poor governance, lack of investment in infrastructure and poor organisational capacity nearly plunged Solomon Water into bankruptcy posing serious risks to the health and economy of Solomon Islands.
In 2010, the government of Solomon Islands intervened to stabilize the company, and assist it to turn around its performance. A bilateral agreement between the Government of Solomon Islands and Australia was established in 2011 to improve the economic infrastructure of Solomon Water and we began the long road to recovery. Under the recovery and action plan program, which also included further JICA support, the quality of water supply has improved and water supply is now more reliable.
Today Solomon Water is providing 22 hours of water supply to most of its customers which includes achieving World health Standards for around 95 % of the time. We service more than 13 000 registered customers, providing water to 100 000 people in Honiara, 9000 people in the 3 provincial centers and sewerage services to more than 20000 people in Honiara. Customer service has improved significantly, the organization is more stable and effective and the financial health of the company is improving, which sets Solomon Water on firmer footing to launch into the future.
We remain reliant on donor support for major infrastructure developments, and have just completed our 30 year Strategic Plan and 5 year Action Plan, which set the path for the future. Of highest importance is increasing the volume of water available for Honiara, as well as reducing the amount of water lost through theft and leakage from the pipe network.