00:02Residents here are filling buckets and tanks and stocking up on bottled water as they prepare
00:07for widespread water shortages this weekend. PNG's state-owned water utility will reduce
00:12the city's water supply by about 50% as it repairs a critical leak in a major pipeline.
00:18The pipe was built in the 1960s and hasn't been properly maintained. Steel walls that
00:24were once 15 millimetres thick have eroded to just 2 millimetres in some places and a
00:29major leak needs urgent repair. The work was supposed to take place last month but
00:34was delayed after landowners denied access to the site. Now the dispute's been
00:38resolved residents have been told the work will go ahead this weekend.
00:42We've collected water from the buckets and containers so we are okay.
00:49I have no idea this water outage I didn't know anything about it at all.
00:55If the government is responsible and they keep up to date with all these things then we shouldn't be
01:02facing any of these problems in our country. If all goes to plan the city's water supply should
01:09be fully restored by Monday. But this is just a band-aid fix to a much bigger problem. Earlier
01:15this year the ABC revealed Water PNG has been warning the government that the city's water
01:19infrastructure has been operating under extreme and unsustainable risk. With multiple critical
01:25water assets at or beyond their expected lifespan the overdue upgrades will likely take years and
01:31cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
01:33So
01:34you
01:35are
01:35You
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