Thousands without clean water in Kiribati

It's World Water Day and Childfund New Zealand is raising awareness about the issues people in Kiribati face with contaminated groundwater.

The NGO has been working for about five years with the community and households in Betio to increase awareness about unsafe water.

In Betio, piped water is only available for a few hours every 2-3 days as Kiribati has the lowest proportion of households with access to piped or protected water in the Pacific.

Shallow groundwater is the main source there and it is at increasing threat from rising sea levels, high tides, storm surges and contamination from rubbish.

Recent testing by ChildFund showed 73 percent of the 1,875 households particpating in its water quality testing programme had unsafe or likely-unsafe drinking water, due to bacterial contamination.