In Wom, over 90 households and all visitors to the public beach now have safe, resilient drinking water. Supported by Busbridge Family, the SMEC Foundation helped improve access to WASH services through a pilot community in Wom village and public beach. This development created a blueprint that other districts in Papua New Guinea can utilise to improve WASH services and management.

Phase 1 consisted of drilling and construction of a bore well to benefit 350-500 people. An elevated water storage tank with a solar pump and community tap stand will also be installed. A committee will be trained to maintain and manage this system and complete refresher community training on WASH behaviours.

Helping to improve WASH service delivery in the Wewak District has contributed to the achievement of Papua New Guinea’s National WASH Policy 2015-2030, delivered in partnership with the Governor of Wewak, and funded through DFAT’s Water for Women fund.

WaterAid is expected to complete the final construction for the water supply system, run final operations and maintenance training with the WASH Committee in mid-2023. The peak demand across the village and the beach is estimated to be 35,000 litres per day.