EU EDF 8 – SOPAC Project Report 79 Reducing Vulnerability of Pacific ACP States SAMOA TECHNICAL NOTE HYDROGEOLOGICAL LIAISON MISSION TO SAVAI’I 19th to 24th September 2006 WaSSP/SWA personnel sampling a coastal spring discharging from a small basalt lava tube, NW Savai'i. (NB. Ruins of Avata Church in background. Both church and village were completely destroyed by massive storm-surge waves caused by Cyclone Ofa in February 1990) SOPAC/EU Project: Reducing Vulnerability of Pacific ACP States Samoa – Hydrogeological Liaison Mission to Savai’i – 2 Compiler: Stephen Booth SOPAC Secretariat June 2007 IMPORTANT NOTICE This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Community; however, the views expressed herein must never be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Community. For more copies of this report, apply to the SOPAC Secretariat at the address below: PACIFIC ISLANDS APPLIED GEOSCIENCE COMMISSION c/o SOPAC Secretariat Private Mail Bag GPO, Suva FIJI ISLANDS http://www.sopac.org Phone: +679 338 1377 Fax: +679 337 0040 [email protected] [EU-SOPAC Project Report 79 – Booth] SOPAC/EU Project: Reducing Vulnerability of Pacific ACP States Samoa – Hydrogeological Liaison Mission to Savai’i – 3 CONTENTS List of Acronyms............................................................................................................................4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..............................................................................................................5 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Context............................................................................................................................6 1.2 The Falealupo Area.........................................................................................................6 1.3 Access to Safe Water Supply..........................................................................................7 1.4 Recent Developments.....................................................................................................8 1.5 Objectives of the Mission ................................................................................................8 2. PROGRAMME 2.1 Scope of Work.................................................................................................................9 2.2 Programme Chronology .................................................................................................... 3. FIELD OBSERVATIONS SUMMARY 3.1 Localities Visited ...........................................................................................................11 3.2 Principal Water Resource Observations .......................................................................11 3.2.1 Rainwater Harvesting...........................................................................................11 3.2.2 Hydrogeological Characteristics ..........................................................................12 3.2.3 Previous Borehole Schemes................................................................................12 3.2.4 Existing Borehole Schemes .................................................................................13 • Asau...............................................................................................................13 • Auala..............................................................................................................13 • Sataua ...........................................................................................................14 • Notes from debriefing meeting.......................................................................14 3.2.5 Falealupo .............................................................................................................15 4. SWA DRILLING RIG ............................................................................................................17 5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS....................................................................18 ANNEXES A E-mail records and Comments......................................................................................22 B ToR for Review of SWA Drilling Rig..............................................................................30 C ToR for Provision of Geophysical Logging Services .....................................................34 [EU-SOPAC Project Report 79 – Booth] SOPAC/EU Project: Reducing Vulnerability of Pacific ACP States Samoa – Hydrogeological Liaison Mission to Savai’i – 4 LIST OF ACRONYMS ACP – African, Caribbean, Pacific AGC – Australian Groundwater Consultants Pty Ltd BoQ – Bill of Quantity EDF – European Development Fund EU – European Union Hydro R&D – Research and Development in Hydroelectricity generation MNREM – Ministry for Natural Resources, Environment and Meteorology MOF – Ministry of Finance MWH – MWH Americas, Inc (environmental consultants) O&M – Operations and Maintenance PDA – Project Design Assistance PIA – (WaSSP) Project Implementation Assistance PWL – Pumping Water Level RWL – Rest Water Level RWS – Rural Water Supply SOPAC – Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission SWA – Samoa Water Authority TA NAO – Technical Assistance – National Authorizing Officer (Samoa-EC) TDS – Total Dissolved Solids ToR – Terms of Reference WSMU – (WaSSP) Water Sector Management Unit WaSSP – (EU-funded) Water Sector Support Programme [EU-SOPAC Project Report 79 – Booth] SOPAC/EU Project: Reducing Vulnerability of Pacific ACP States Samoa – Hydrogeological Liaison Mission to Savai’i – 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Mr Ludo Prins, Programme Advisor for the EU-funded Water Sector Support Programme (WaSSP) in Samoa, contacted SOPAC on the 09th September 2006, with an urgent request for assistance from a groundwater specialist. Assistance was primarily required to resolve long-term concerns about the safe groundwater yields in Falealupo. Currently the Project Design Assistance (PDA) project is finalising the design for the water supply systems throughout Samoa, including Falealupo. The WaSSP Water Sector Management Unit (WSMU) have already received two expert opinions on how to approach the issue to get the required water resource inputs into the (S4) design that should be finished by mid-November 2006. Some contradictions within the two proposed approaches (refer to email records in Annex A) resulted in uncertainty within the WSMU, resulting in their requiring further advice from a third party. Given the timeframe and staff availability, it was decided that hydrogeological advice could be most immediately facilitated via direct synergy with the SOPAC/EU EDF8 Project, “Reducing Vulnerability of Pacific ACP States”. The Samoa Work Plan, developed through earlier EDF8 multi-stakeholder consultation meetings, has three tasks identified within Key Result Area 2 (Water) as follows:– WS 2.1.1 Maintain active liaison with and provide technical support to SWA and review of cost effectiveness of alternative sources. WS 2.1.2 Review of long-term abstraction of groundwater resources northwest Savai’i; WS 2.4.1 Review groundwater supply potential for Aopo and Asau in northwest Savai’i Under the auspices of the above tasks, Mr S.K. Booth, Water Specialist within the SOPAC/EU EDF8 Project agreed to undertake a short technical mission to liaise with WaSSP and provide hydrogeological advice as appropriate. The mission was completed between 19th September and 24th September 2006, and essentially involved reconnaissance field investigations in the Falealupo Peninsula with staff from WSMU, Samoa Water Authority (SWA) and the Ministry for Natural Resources, Environment and Meteorology (MNREM), and subsequent presentation of observations and recommendations. This report records the field observations and data collection made during the mission and presents some outline conclusions and recommendations to assist WaSSP with charting a way forward for the PDA. In the event that WaSSP and SWA succeed in implementing or progressing some or all of the recommendations suggested, additional hydrogeological technical support is envisaged during 2007 from the EDF8 Water Specialist with associated advice and fieldwork supervision during borehole logging and/or test pumping exercises. [EU-SOPAC Project Report 79 – Booth] SOPAC/EU Project: Reducing Vulnerability of Pacific ACP States Samoa – Hydrogeological Liaison Mission to Savai’i – 6 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Context The focal sector for Samoa’s 9th EDF development cooperation programme is improvement in public health through improved access to safe water supply, basic sanitation, and sustainable water resource management. Improvement and rehabilitation of rural water supply systems is therefore an integral part of the Water Sector Support Programme (WaSSP) in Samoa. Technical assistance services under the on-going Project Design Assistance (PDA) contract is preparing detailed designs and tender dossiers for the proposed works. Three phases of works are planned, including improvements in the Falealupo area in northwestern Savai’i. 1.2 The Falealupo Area The Falealupa area lies at the far northwestern corner of Savai’i, the most remote location from the country’s capital, Apia. Figure 1. Location Map: Northwest Savai’i, Samoa. The peninsula comprises a total of 3014 inhabitants in a number of villages (Falealupo, Papa Uta, Avata, Vaotupua, Tufutafoe, Neiafu Uta, Neifu Tai and Falelima). A further 3629 inhabitants live along the neighboring northwest coastline between Sataua and Matavai. Apart from the Sataua-Auala-Asau water supply systems,