Constant power outage in Lae city is affecting Water PNG equipment.
Water PNG’s senior manager said this was the main reason behind the Unitech bore malfunction.
The Water PNG pumps rely on electricity.
“When you have a reliable supply, your equipment is healthy so you can continue producing water and things like that but when you have continuous blackouts, it burns equipment,” stated Water PNG senior manager, Martin Bigiglen.
For water supply, Bigiglen explained that they pressurise the system to ensure a constant flow of water.
“Once the system is pressurised and you continue maintaining the supply, then continuous water supply flows,” he stated. “The moment you have a disruption, the system depletes because every second, everybody is using water.”
Lae started experiencing water problems on Monday evening when one of the seven bores along the Unitech road malfunctioned.
Of the seven bores, only four were working to supply the city until the issue this week, leaving only three functioning bores.
Water PNG is working on resolving the problem, with Bigiglen saying the situation should be back to normal by the end of the week.
(Water PNG staff removing one of the six column pipes within bore 6)