Water resources policy and administrative management

The Point Cross community has depended on a gravity fed water supply drawn from the forested upland area water source and drawn down about five (5) kilometers into two storage tanks, then supplied to the villages households. The water was supplied through poly pipes to households, and all work involved done by the community without any government assistance. This water system has been the main supply to the village, and the village has been depending entirely on this source since the establishment of its infrastructure. Without much knowledge on the importance of the catchment and the forest cover, the villagers for several years have been gardening in the water catchment area, resulting removing of the natural forest for small hold gardenings. The large trees in the catchment were removed through slash and burning and changing the vegetation to scrubland. In the recent years the local community noticed that the rate of water flow and supply has reduced and even during long dry seasons some families were unable to secure water through the pipes. Declining in rate of water flow has never been observed prior to instance gardening in the catchment area. Through this project the Point cross development committee will raise awareness on the deforestation and demonstrate reforestation in the catchment areas to compensate for the loss of forest trees. The replanting of trees will include fast growing trees species and food trees.

Vanuatu