SOLOMON Breweries Limited (Solbrew) has backed relief efforts by delivering clean filtered over the past six days to communities as far as NZ Camp settlement and to all the Disaster Relief Centres in East Honiara.
Their efforts have been supported by Tongs Corporation who provided tanks and used to distribute water across a number of trucks.
Solbrew’s General Manager Andy Hewson confirmed that Solbrew trucks and staff have been delivering clean water since Saturday.
“When we were advised by SIWA that there were issues around clean water supply we felt that this was something Solbrew could really help with, delivering clean drinking water,” Mr Hewson said.
“While it has been a huge drain on our resources Solbrew is happy to support the relief effort as a member of the Honiara community.”
Solbrew water deliveries began on Saturday after the rain eased, delivering an average of 15,000 litres per day, this is approximately 60,000 big bottles over six days.
“We have visited all the disaster relief centres on the east side of Honiara at least two or three times since Saturday refilling tanks, water containers and bottles,” Mr Hewson said.
“The Solbrew team on Sunday were on the road until midnight delivering to communities and homes on the way to New Zealand camp behind Sun Valley and Henderson International Airport.”
With Mataniko Bridge given the all clear by authorities, Solbrew with the support of Tongs is slowly getting clean water delivered to the Relief Centres in West Honiara.
“All we have been able to do up until Wednesday has been to send 1000 litre tanks home with members of our staff living in West Honiara that have been affected, to share with families in their area,” Mr Hewson said.
“With the bridge cleared for normal use we are finally getting to the Relief Centres on the west side, the main challenge has been the slow moving traffic.”
Mr Hewson advised that while Solbrew is happy to provide clean water it will be for a limited time only.
“As much as we would like to help it is only a matter of time before Solbrew will start to experience shortage with our supply, so we’d like to advise those who have collected or received water from us to use it wisely, this is clean drinking water so it is best to reserve it for drinking and cooking.”
