Environment Minister Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan has said that 60,000 people will receive clean water supply this year.

Speaking at an event in AA. Mathiveri on World Water Day, the Minister said that many island communities still live without basic services and that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s government plans to provide access to water supply and sewerage systems in all the islands.

Citing statistics, Minister Hussain said that 50 percent of communities have access to clean water and 66 percent are connected to sewerage systems.

He said that this year’s state budget has allocated funds to establish sewerage systems in 63 islands and water supply systems in 82 islands, which would result in 40,020 people receiving access to sewerage systems and 59,989 people receiving access to water supply systems.

He said that the government has spent between MVR 25 – 30 million on water purification systems which uses the latest reverse osmosis technology.

He added that many Maldivians are reliant on bottled water and that the harmful effects of bottles to our fragile environment is getting worse.