You have entered the website of the Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific (WERI) at the University of Guam. We are currently six faculty and five staff and our mission is to seek solutions through research, teaching and outreach programs, to issues and problems associated with the location, production, distribution and management of freshwater resources in Guam, the CNMI and the FSM.
This technical report focuses on a discussion of freshwater catchment and storage systems in Micronesia. Particular attention is paid to the conditions within two small Micronesian atoll environments, the village of Laura on Majuro Atoll and the village community of Nama, a small Carolinian island lying outside of Truk Lagoon. Both of the study areas lie within American jurisdiction in the western Pacific.
Fieldwork at Laura in August 1981 revealed that a paradox exists between the abundant availability of freshwater occurring as rainwater and groundwater on the one hand, and frequent shortages of freshwater on the other. Fieldwork on Nama in August 1982 revealed a similar abundant availability of rainwater, but freshwater shortages were rarely reported.
It is suggested that different levels of individual initiative and community response to the need for freshwater are apparent in the two island communities being studied. Particular variables such as access to the district center, availability of construction materials and supplies, community level planning and leadership or lack of the same, and time perspectives may be called upon to help explain variations between the freshwater catchment and storage systems found at Laura and Nama.
