Our Water Sources
A water source is a place where water is taken from for supplying our towns and villages. There are two types of water source:
- An open source, referring to rivers or streams where water is collected and is visible; and
- An underground source, referring to bore holes, where the source cannot be seen with our eyes.
How many water sources do we have?
In Honiara we currently have the following water sources:
- White River (Kongulai) – open source and bore holes
- Ngossi - bore holes
- Rove - open source
- Titinge/Mbokona - bore holes
- Tuvaruhu - bore holes
- Kombito - bore holes and open source
- Panatina - bore holes
Auki has an open source and bore holes whilst Tulagi and Noro have open sources.
The closed sources are almost totally safe because they are not totally accessible by warm-blooded animals and other pollutants, such as illegal settlers using individual septic tanks.
Water is a finite resource and a precious commodity and it must be conserved. Of all our natural resources, water is the most important for land conservation and the welfare of mankind. Therefore, the processes involved in the use and conservation of this most vital resource should be an interest to people of all ages.
What Is Water Conservation?
Water conservation is the act of careful and wise of your water. Water conservation can be observed when one plans her use of water and the User Pays System could be a very good example of water conservation. If consumption could enable savings and postpone major constructions. As a result of this postponement, ratepayers don’t have to carry the cost if works in the near future.
How Can I Help To Conserve Water?
- Replace Water To Every Leaking Taps And Toilet Cisterns.
- Do Not Do Your Washing Under Running Tap. Fill Basins, Buckets Tubs And Laundry.
- Do Not Wash Your Dishes Under Running Tap. Fill A Bowl Or Dish.
- Do Not Leave Tap Running Unattended.
- Do Not Use A Hose To Water Your Plants. Use A Bucket & Container.
- Do Not Hose Your Car Down, Use A Bucket And Sponge.
- Do Not Brush Your Teeth Under Running Tap.
- Do Not Spend Much Time Under The Shower. 5 Minutes Is The Best.
- Report All Leakages Along Road Reserves And Along Pipelines To Solomon Water On Phone 23985.
- Use Rain Water Tanks
Water treatment is undertaken by Solomon Water to improve the quality of water. Treatment is carried out with the use of chlorination, the process of adding chlorine to the water we supply to disinfect and kill germs that it is safe for drinking.
Why Solomon Water does Chlorination?
Sometimes our water sources are contaminated with bacteria, viruses, algae, Fungi and protozoa. These small living organisms can give sickness when they are present in our drinking water. Therefore Solomon Water has to chlorinate its water to kill these bacteria and other potential harmful organism. Chlorination is usually carried out immediately after the water has been extracted from the source.
How does Water get Contaminated?
There are many types of bacteria in water that can give us sickness. These bacteria can be transported into our drinking water from human being, animals and naturally from the ground. When we drink contaminated water we get sick. Some of the diseases associated with contaminated drinking water are dysentery, enteritis, diarrhea, cholera, food poisoning and many more
How is Water Chlorinated?
There are many types of chlorine chemical and the type of chemical used for chlorination is calcium hypochlorite. Calcium hypochlorite comes in a form of granules and has 70 percent of concentration strength.
The chlorine granules are usually mixed in special solutions tanks at a certain mixing rate until the granules are dissolved. Then dosing pumps into the reservoirs tanks main lines at a certain rates dose the solutions.
Tests are usually done along the systems to determine the amount of chlorine residual in the water. Normally dosing water pumps are adjusted so that the amount of free chlorine residual should be over 0.4 mg /I and less than 1.0mg in the system at all times
Water Quality Standards
At present Solomon Water or the government has no standard of its own, however there are guidelines and standards published by the world health organization and these are referred to in establishing Solomon Water ’s quality control policies.
How can the public help?
- Look after our catchment areas
- Do not make food gardens near the sources
- No wandering or picnicking in water catchment areas
How Water Gets to You
Ever consider how water gets to you? Why you seem to turn on your tap at ease and water is sipping through as if it was magic?
Solomon Water extracts 60 percent of its water from open springs and 40 percent of its water from boreholes in place where it operates to supply water to your homes. Raw water is taken from the open springs and boreholes and transported through 200mm pipelines to our pump stations.
From our pump stations, water is transported in large distances through valleys and terrains to our storage reservoirs. As the water is moved to our storage reservoirs, it went through a disinfectant process where our team of water quality expert’s disinfectant the water with chlorine so that is it safe for consumption.
As it passes through the disinfection process, water is pumped through to distribution 600mm distribution main where it is distributed to service lines. At the end of the service lines is where Solomon Water puts its water meters where it calculates how much water you use.
From the water meter it travels to your home plumbing and through to your tap where you can turn it on and get a cool glass of water.