Malé, Maldives – Disaster Management Authority’s statistics has shown that the government has spent more than MVR 85 million to provide water to islands that faced water shortages during the hot seasons over the past 17 years.
According to Disaster Management statistics, from 2005 to September this year, governments spent a total of MVR 85.2 million to provide water to the affected islands. The largest expenditure was in 2019 where MVR 11 million was spent on water supply to islands.
While the government spends a lot of money on water supply every year, as of September this year, the government has spent 122.2 percent more on drinking water supply than in 2021 totaling the amount to MVR 9.6 million.
The government says it is undertaking a number of projects to address this, including rainwater storage in some islands. Construction work is underway to fulfill the promise of establishing water and sewerage systems in all inhabited islands in Maldives by next year.
During the hot season, the shortage of drinking water in islands is unusually high. This is also causing serious damage to fields in agricultural islands and financial losses to farmers.
At the same time, climate change has made it difficult to predict the rainy season and rising sea levels have polluted the groundwater table and made it difficult for many islands to access naturally available clean drinking water.
