The objective of this project is to rehabilitate the community rainwater catchment, well water pumping system and sanitation systems for Nei Kaue community, which will provide safe water and sanitary facilities to the community thereby enhancing the community?s capacity to cope with the natural hazard of drought and adapt to climate change. The project will solve the dual issue of insufficient and contaminated supply of fresh water to the community during the dry months leading to the improved livelihoods of the citizenry by enhancing the sustainable land management activities.
This project of NKDC is for the Nei Kaue Community which is an urban sector community of about 600 Catholic Church followers residing on the eastern end of the main village of Bikenibeu on South Tarawa. The physical environments of urban Bikenibeu village are suffering from increasing household waste, sewage and refuse, imported waste such as plastics, glass and aluminum foil and other pollutants. Underground freshwater resources (water lens) are being endangered from pollutants from various sources, including unsupervised solid waste dumping, siting of pig pens, and open defecation. Compounding matters in the village is the growing population that has seen urban Bikenibeu village population significantly increased by more than 15 percent (6568 - 7575 people in five years) from the 2015 Census figures. Underground water is no longer safe for drinking purposes in urban Bikenibeu. Also, the village wells are getting more saline with over extraction by the increased population but particularly through now more frequent droughts.
The basic objective of the project is to develop community-based adaptation and mitigation capacity to reduce poverty and improve the quality of life in the community through improved water supply and sanitation (WSSS) services and sustainable land management.
To reduce pollution on the underground freshwater resource and at the same time help contribute to reduction of global climate change, the community will be engaged in health and sanitation trainings and improving waste management by e.g. moving pigpens further inland and away from wells, and construction/demonstration of septic toilets and relocating and establishing a village well-system further away from the coastal region to provide a safe water supply system to the village.
GEF SGP support will result in mobilizing and fostering active community participation for a sustainable village community management programme. The project will i) construct and rehabilitate the community WSSS facilities, ii) build the capacity of the community for operations and maintenance, iii) establish rain and well-water supply systems, iv) enhance awareness of good hygiene and water conservation practices, and v) provide income and livelihood support to beneficiary communities.
Superimposed to the existing problems is the adverse effect of climate change that is already being felt today. Climate change is of intense concern to the low-lying Kiribati islands nation, and of particular concern to Nei Kaue community at urban Bikenibeu village. The very poor and infertile nature of the terrain of the atoll islands of Kiribati makes them extremely vulnerable to climate change. The soil structure (or lack of it) of the land area, limits the village communities from growing many sustainable food crops. When there is more than normal rainfall or storms there is groundwater flooding, and spread of contaminants, and when there is prolonged and more frequent droughts, as currently experienced, the limited variety of food crops grown are dying out and the fresh water wells are severely limited to drying up soon.
The project is proposing to rehabilitate the community rainwater catchment and ground well water pumping system and constructing a sanitary toilet system for Nei Kaue community which will provide safe portable water supplies and protection from ground water contaminations, including water-borne diseases, thereby enhancing the community?s capacity to cope with the natural hazard of drought and adapt to climate change. The above stated objectives will be achieved with the project outcomes