BY IRWIN ANGIKI
The Pacific Water and Wastewater Association (PWWA) conference begins today in Honiara with regional countries to share how much they utilise this important life resource.
The 9th Pacific Water and Wastewater Ministers Forum and 16th Pacific Water and Wastewater Association (PWWA) Conference and Expo (PWWC25) will run from Monday to Thursday, August 25-28.
The forum gathers government ministers of Pacific countries and the conference brings together officials from water utilities, including Solomon Water, policymakers, water professionals and development partners.
The importance of these events was underscored at a press conference on Saturday, August 23, 2025 by local water authorities and Pacific Water and Wastewater Association (PWWA) – we come together and share and learn from each other on elevating water as an important natural resource in our countries.
“Water is so important, it sustains all biodiversities, without water we cannot live. Advocating for water as very important for our countries, especially in the Pacific, and making sure that it is elevated to be made known, to protect it, and build awareness about where your water is coming from, all these different aspects of water are discussed at the PWWA conference,” CEO of PWWA Pitolau Lusia Sefo-Leau, one of the conference panellists said.
“We need to elevate our understanding and appreciation that water is indeed life. That is the purpose of this forum and conference. The forum aims at working together and achieving a common purpose in the water sector. We need to find ways we can create solution where there is no water tariff. How do we get there. There has to be a reason why tariff on water is zero, it could be because the government is subsidising. Countries will present how they go about developing tariff for water. PWWA provides the opportunity where we can learn from our neighbours,” Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification (MMERE) Dr Chris Vehe told media.
In the Solomons, the authority governing water is a Division within the MMERE.
Solomon Water CEO Carmine Piantedosi said, “It’s really important for us to share knowledge and our experiences with other utilities in the Pacific. We’re going to share our challenges with other water utilities, which are similar to their challenges in their water sector … some of our main ones will be on the security of water supply, and addressing them through infrastructure development, capacity development of our workers, water treatment plants, storage facilities, and treatment, delivery of water has security issues, we assess the liability of supply to our customers, climate change risks and impacts which narrow down to two main issues, heavy rainfall and sea-level rise… Another is non-revenue water and the challenges surrounding it. Another is urbanisation and its challenges.”
Despite water being one of life’s essential needs, access to clean water remains low in the Pacific, trailing other developing regions in the world such as Africa.
“The Pacific lags far behind other regions of the world in terms of access to clean water. We have about 55 percent access as a region. That’s not good. We’re behind Africa and other regions of the world in that sense,” CEO Sefo-Leau said.
Access for sanitation is worse.
“For access to sanitation, about 35 percent access. Which means we are still using the beach and bush to go to the toilet. We need to understand those statistics and need to pay attention to where we are at in terms of our access,” Sefo-Leau said.
The PWWA works to strengthen advocacy, data collection, and peer learning among water utilities throughout the Pacific.
PWWA is a membership association made up of 30 water and wastewater utilities from the 21 countries and territories of the Pacific.
PWWA’s conference is unique as it has a political co-event in the ministerial forum which runs alongside it, involving political representation from Pacific countries.
“This will be the 16th conference and expo that PWWA has hosted and the ninth ministerial forum. The ministerial forum started in PNG in 2015. It started because there was recognition after 10 years of the technical conferences that there should be some recognition by political leaders of water,” CEO Sefo-Leau told the press conference.
“During the 8th forum and 15th conference last year in Cook Islands, former Mines minister Bradley Tovosia offered to host this year’s session in the Solomon Islands,” PS Vehe said.
The theme for the event this year is ‘Water and Wastewater for All: Connecting People, Policies, and Communities for a shared Sustainable Future’.
The programme line-up for this week includes networking, digitalisation of water in the Pacific, resilience and water security, governance of water sector, resilience and water security, inclusion and people management, climate change and extreme events, utility organistation and strategy, water and sanitation for remote communities, and strengthening utility technical operations.
The press conference on Saturday was held at the HP Hotel and involved a panel comprising MMERE PS Vehe, PWWA CEO Sefo-Leau, SolWater CEO Piantedosi, and MMERE Deputy Secretary Christopher Hunupauro.
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