SUVA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Fijians have been advised to cut down on their showers as parts of the country have been hit by the prolonged drought.
Water Authority of Fiji Board Director Kamal Gounder said Friday that they had embarked on a nationwide campaign to increase awareness on the importance of water conservation.
Gounder said the two-month campaign will feature tips on saving water.
The water authority was prioritizing carting water to a number of areas which meant 20 water carting trucks were currently operational in the central part of the country, 43 in the western part and 37 in the northern part and they had also started carting water to maritime islands like Yasawa in the western part of the nation.
Fiji's Director of Meteorological Service Ravind Kumar reiterated that the dry spell was expected to continue for the next two months.
He said from mid-June, many parts of the country had experienced very less or no rain.
Kumar said the most hard-hit area was the northwestern part of the country's main island of Viti Levu where the capital city of Suva is located in, as they are experiencing about of 60 to 70 consecutive days of very little or no rain.
He said they were worried as the sources of water could start drying up if the dry spell continued.
Fiji's agriculture production with the continuance duration of the dry spell was expected to drop.
Fijians living in the worst-affected areas needed to conserve water and use the basic necessity wisely.
More than 100,000 households in Fiji engage in agricultural activities such as growing crops, raising livestock, fishing, freshwater aquaculture or marine aquaculture. Bush fires was also a risk during the dry spell.
