Rain returns

Tuvalu's wet season runs November to April though this year many of those months were dry, and very little rain fell from October through January creating water scarcity and drought. The drought ended January 20th, the first of a few days of heavy, much needed rain.


Children run to play and bathe in the downpour outside of their home in northern Funafuti. Buckets and basins are put out to catch additional precious water in addition to what the tanks are collecting.



In Tuvalu the main clean water source is rain. Each house in the capital, Funafuti is equipped with at least one large tank, often two. Community structures such as meeting halls and churches have tanks as well and when individuals are low on water, they can obtain rationed buckets of water at those sites. When those tanks are empty the next step is purchasing desalinized water from the Public Works Department (PWD).


At the PWD, empty tanks wait to be installed.