Water PNG, the company responsible for supplying the bulk of the water to Mt Hagen has confirmed that there will be continuous water disruptions due to generator failure.
The ongoing issue continues to be caused by long periods without power, thanks to constant outages.
Water PNG Mt Hagen Business Centre Manager, Eluid Mayarom said: “The generator is currently down. It has been working well over its normal capacity during the lengthy and continuous power outages, these outages often more than four hours at any given time.”
“Due to landowner issues, WPNG has not constructed any reservoir to store and ration water, so it’s currently operating on direct pumping. Our Operations Manager Kenneth Zale is working around the clock to fix the generator.”
He said water and power are interchangeable and depend on each other to work effectively, so with the current ongoing power outages, customers in Hagen town will continue to face water disruptions until this is rectified.
He added that while work was underway to construct a new water reservoir for Mt Hagen, Water PNG would be forced to continue using their standby generator to provide power to boost water supply to the Hagen Township during these outages.
Mayarom said: “we have tried to contact our friends at the PNG Power Office, but to date there has been no assurance that power outages will be rectified soon.”
Meanwhile, Water PNG Chief Operating Officer Billy Imar said “this is a serious situation, and while we are accommodating this proble, it will be very challenging for our customers in Hagen over the coming weeks.
“We have to deal with it smartly and we encourage our customers to use and store water wisely.”
Source: Water PNG
