PNG Water Services Resume After Rouna Plants Brought Back Online

Water services across much of Port Moresby began returning early today after Water PNG successfully restored operations at the Rouna facilities following an overnight shutdown.

The company said Rouna 1 and Rouna 3 were fully restored at about 2.15am, with Rouna 4 coming back online shortly afterwards, allowing water production to resume and pressure to gradually recover throughout the system.

 PNG Water Services Resume After Rouna Plants Brought Back Online [Photo by Water PNG]

Water PNG chief executive officer James Young said reservoir storage was used shortly after midnight to ease the impact on customers while inflows were being rebuilt. He said the network now needs time to stabilise as water continues to flow back into the system.

Mr Young said restoration work included flushing major trunk mains and rebalancing reservoirs and District Metered Areas, which helped restore supply to most parts of the city overnight. He noted that some areas may still experience slow recovery as the system balances out.

He said the outage again highlighted the strain on Port Moresby’s ageing water infrastructure, which was never designed to support the city’s current population. Although the shutdown had been planned, he warned that similar works in the future could take longer and involve more complex challenges.

The Water PNG chief also raised concern over incidents where workers were threatened and prevented from carrying out repairs, particularly in Hanuabada where a landslip damaged a major water main. He said teams would return to the area with police support to complete the necessary work.

Maintenance activities have also been continuing at Mount Eriama, with some suburbs without water since 11pm on Saturday, December 27, 2025.

“The HB main plays a major role in supplying the city, so public cooperation is critical to allow our crews to restore services safely and efficiently,” Mr Young said.