Kiribati's Banaba grateful for water but wants permanent solution

The people of Banaba have expressed gratitude after a Kiribati Government chartered vessel arrived laden with water supplies and materials.

But they also say the water issues on the island have been going on for generations and need to be sorted.

The ship, LC Linnix, arrived on Sunday carrying a new desalination plant, water tanks, and hundreds of bottles of water.

There was also cement to repair water tanks that had cracked.

Banaba elder, Roubena Ritata, said the water crisis goes back years and there has to be a permanent solution.

He said they were calling for an ambitious rehabilitation plan for Banaba which was devastated by the generations of phosphate mining.

Meanwhile the Banaban diaspora communities of Fiji have initiated a day of fasting and prayer for this Wednesday.

A spokesman said they want to bring the dispersed population together to pray for the resolution of the island's water crisis and its other urgent development needs.