Teams to assess drought conditions in Marshall Islands
Assessment teams in Marshall Islands are being sent to remote outer islands, in the wake of the drought emergency that's been declared by the government.
Transcript
Assessment teams in Marshall Islands are being sent to remote outer islands, in the wake of the drought emergency that's been declared by the government.
Most of the islands which are experiencing water shortages have received only a trace of rain since the beginning of the year.
Our correspondent in Marshall Islands Giff Johnson told Bridget Tunnicliffe it's affected islands in the north.
JOHNSON: These are islands, essentially, that are about eight degrees north of the equator and farther up. They've had a very difficult dry season. This is normally our dry part of the year, January through April or May. But for the northern islands it's been very, very dry, much drier than just the normal season. And so there's been a big push to get reverse osmosis water-making units and other support out to these islands.
TUNNICLIFFE: So is the government sending out any teams to assess how bad it is?
JOHNSON: This week and next week they've got three different teams that are heading out to about 14 different populated islands. And they're doing a whole range of assessments, everything from water to agriculture. The problem is that, essentially, all these islands rely on rain and there hasn't been any. So then they're down to dealing with using well water, so on some islands it's gotten to be a bit of an issue.
TUNNICLIFFE: So these teams, will they be arriving with immediate relief? Will there be some water going out there straightaway?
JOHNSON: Not so much water, but they have several reverse-osmosis units being delivered pretty much as speak to a couple of the islands. The US government has promised another seven, which apparently are en route. And there's a request into AusAID for some additional support on more RO units. And the declaration of emergency by the government has triggered a clause in the Compact of Free Association. And that's released $100,000 from a disaster relief fund, so there's a little bit of money freed up for these teams to get out and evaluate the situation and see what they can do.
TUNNICLIFFE: And I guess they may be considering long-term options for these islands if they keep experiencing water shortages?
JOHNSON: You know, one of the northern islands, Utrecht, several years ago put in a solar and wind-powered reverse osmosis system that feeds water into tanks and it's piped into the community centre. I was out on the island a couple of years ago to see it. It's just a great system, produces hundreds of gallons of fresh water a day. And when it's raining, of course, they can fill up tanks and have water on reserve. So I think the key aim is to try and get these RO units, try to get some bigger ones installed on these islands so there's some storage capacity.
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