Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has ordered authorities to improve the quality of water for hundreds of families in a part of Ba where cases of leptospirosis and Hepatitis A were reported.

The emergency operation at Nukuloa is expected to continue and water will be carted to affected families for a while.

Bainimarama visited the dam to see firsthand the problem.

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“The water needs to go to everybody. They don’t want water that provides them only five hours of when they want water. They want 24 hours of drinking water like everybody else.”

The emergency situation has already cost $20,000 and it will cost the government $400,000 to deliver clean and safe water to the families.

Water Authority of Fiji Chief Operating officer, Laxman Attanyake says they will help improve conditions at the dam.

“That has to be done in three months that is the directive from the Prime Minister and the Water Authority is determined to accomplish that task in within three months.”

More than eighty suspected cases of water-borne diseases were reported in the last fortnight.

The owner of the private water source, Brij Lal says they are not responsible for the outbreak of diseases.

“I don’t think so. We should not be held responsible for all this because we don’t know the cause. The Health Ministry is saying it but we don’t’ know. The water supply system has been there for the last 56 years."

Bainimarama wants a permanent solution and the government is looking at constructing a dam in the mountains near the area.