00:01The pipeline here supplies over 100 million litres of water to Port Moresby every day,
00:07but engineers say it's at critical risk of collapsing, threatening to cut off more than half the city's water supply.
00:13The ABC has been granted rare access to the site.
00:16You can't see the pipe because it's submerged in water,
00:19but the leak is so powerful you can actually hear the rumble of turbulent water and feel the ground around
00:24it vibrating.
00:25The pipe was laid by the Australian Government in the 1960s before PNG gained independence,
00:31but hasn't been maintained.
00:32Now, steel walls that were once 15mm thick have eroded to just 2mm in some places,
00:38and the leak needs urgent repairs.
00:41After months of planning, work was scheduled to take place this weekend,
00:45but now landowners have blocked access to the site, demanding compensation.
00:50We are not saying no to the repair.
00:52We are not saying no to the maintenance work, the whole works of it.
00:57All we are saying, all we are demonstrating is that we have an issue and you haven't attended to us.
01:03Water PNG Chairman Mekulis Poyer says the blockade is threatening the rights of the entire city to access water and
01:09sanitation.
01:10He says hospitals have delayed elective surgeries and businesses have made contingency plans to deal with the scheduled work,
01:16which was expected to dramatically reduce the city's water supply for three days.
01:21Water PNG is calling on landowners to remove the blockade,
01:24but say they'll use legal powers to press ahead with work if necessary.
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01:30Water Getting Desper basta trigquer
01:31TranscriptionIREïżœ
01:31PNG is some non- Rowem the eleven such as but as their State of Notre PNG. Water
