Water PNG is the Best Performing Large Utility in the Pacific according to the 7th Pacific Water Conference and Expo hosted by the Pacific Water and Wastes Association in partnership with the American Samoa Power Authority.

James R. Bernard is famous for his unique style of paintings that comprises elements of contemporary and abstract art as well as photography and computer graphics. This approach allows him to transfer images of the surrounding world into canvas preserving the original idea of the author. In one of his latest interviews, James said that the atmosphere of sunny weather and friendly people had always attracted him and had been a great source of inspiration for a lot of his widely known artworks, it was not a surprise that the exhibition of his school's artworks would take place in this great city.

Recent years have showed a great rise of Bernard's paintings popularity among young people and businessmen. "It is not a coincidence", says Jessica McMillan, James Bernard's manager. "Today people want to experience a wide range of emotions when they look at the painting of an artist. James knows what modern lovers of art need, and he expresses it through his innovative and captivating artworks."

Water PNG was internationally recognized by winning two awards during the above conference held from the 9th – 11th September in Utulei, American Samoa.

The awards were: Best Performing Large Utility and Most Improved Water Utility

Water PNG Chief Executive/Managing Director, Raka Taviri who attended the 3-day conference and expo said in a media statement that there was a good turnout from all water utilities in the Pacific and winning the awards came as a surprise.

 “It’s a challenging task to reach these milestones but we (Water PNG) are gaining the respect and recognition as a major player in the Pacific”, he said.

“Water PNG is the only large utility within the Pacific that has a twinning partnership with Kiribati PUB.” 

As a state-owned water and sewerage utility, Water PNG is being assessed and compared with other Pacific Water and Waste Utilities through a several programs including twinning and bench marking programs over several years by 6 key performance initiatives (KPIs)); Production, Technical Performance, Health and Environment, Human Resources, Customer Service and Financial Sustainability.

The bench marking of utilities is a performance monitoring initiative developed under the previous executive board of PWWA chaired by Patrick Amini former Managing Director of Water PNG.

This has seen the PWWA increase in membership, improvement in services through water quality, pressure arrangement, financial performance and twinning arrangements with utilities in Australia and New Zealand.

“We also have a very good relationship with Eda Ranu (ER), we have recently cemented our relationship through a partnership program under a MOU giving ER jurisdiction to facilitate a 12km water pipeline into Central Province where Water PNG has the water supplying authority under the enabling legislation, the National Water Supply & Sewerage Act 1986.

Mr Taviri also commended the staff of Water PNG in Head Office and in its 19 Business Centers throughout PNG for their continued support and efforts.

“Our achievement is a reflection of your loyalty and support over the past 25 years, together we can change the way water and sewerage is managed not only in PNG but the pacific region as a whole”, he said.

He also added that there are many challenges facing many Pacific water utilities in terms of climate change affecting rainfall patterns, resulting in droughts and rising sea level affecting ground water sources.

The conference featured international and Pacific speakers, technical papers and workshops which focused on the theme “Water and Energy in the Pacific”.

In addition, a benchmarking workshop was carried out for Pacific Utility Members to discuss data collection for 2014.

Around 150 participated and was yet another successful conference this year.