The island of Savaii is home to about 40 000 Samoans, just over 22% of the population. The island’s inhabitants rely heavily on groundwater as a primary source of freshwater for their domestic, agricultural and industrial activities.

The study comes at a time when Savaii is facing growing pressure from population growth, deforestation and tourism development. These activities are contributing to various forms of water pollution, including sedimentation, nutrient enrichment from agricultural and sewage runoff and bacterial and chemical contamination.

Samoa’s State of the Environment report finds that 87% of the terrestrial environment and inland waters are in a fair state and the remainder in a good to fair state. For the marine and coastal environment, the figure is 71%.

The state of the built environment is rated 60% fair to poor. With regard to the latter, the report states that ‘most of the population have excellent access to safe sanitation (97% of households) and drinking water (99% households). However, there are some serious challenges to the state of septic systems and leachates to the environment, causing contamination to groundwater’.

The report observes that water quality data are incomplete. Filling this knowledge gap was one of the reasons for the study conducted on the island of Savaii. While most households have access to safe drinking water, water quality data are incomplete.

The report also observes that ‘waste management has been and continues to be a major challenge for the country’.

The report is the fourth in the series, the previous one dating from 2013. Another output of the United Nations Joint Programme, the report is the product of several technical working groups. It was launched on 7 October this year by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, UNESCO having served as project coordinator.

Susan Schneegans: s.schneegans@unesco.org