Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, 17 September 2026 – There is a certain irony in writing about water conservation while the weather does not feel remotely hot. It is exactly the kind of thing that lulls an industry into waiting. Weather does not need to feel extreme for a water problem to be developing underneath it. Quietly drying up in catchments and dam levels, most of us never think to check until someone tells us to.
The Fiji Meteorological Service’s latest climate outlook confirms El Niño is now established and expected to strengthen to strong or very strong intensity through the rest of 2026 and into early 2027. It forecasts below-normal rainfall across all four divisions and Rotuma through September, through November, and again through February. FMS’s Early Action Rainfall Watch already flags a very high chance of very dry conditions from September to November, with seriously dry conditions already showing in Taveuni and Cikobia, and very dry conditions across parts of Vanua Levu, Koro, Gau, Makogai, Vanuabalavu and northern Lau. Parts of the country are already living this, while the rest of us go about business as usual.
The Water Authority of Fiji reported on 4 September that eight of seventeen water sources in the Central and Eastern divisions had reached critical levels, alongside five of fourteen sources in the Western division, including the Nakasia and Narara dams in Rakiraki, Balevuto Dam in Ba, and the Nalau and Buabua dams that serve Lautoka. Fiji Met’s hydroelectric outlook also points toward drier conditions around Monasavu and Nadarivatu, which matters well beyond the tap, because our hydro system depends heavily on rainfall, and a dry season can just as easily become an energy story as a water one.
The global picture from the World Meteorological Organisation also points toward above-normal temperatures across much of the world as this El Niño season peaks. Fiji’s own local forecast right now actually points the other way, toward below-normal temperatures through the rest of this year. Both things can be true at once. What we do know is that Fiji is already seeing a significant dry signal, several water sources are under real pressure, and the outlook points toward that continuing into next year, regardless of how the mornings happen to feel.
While across the industry many consider this par for course around this time of the year, FMS once explained something worth repeating here. Cloud cover and rain where you happen to be staying does not necessarily mean the dams are filling. What matters is whether rain falls specifically over the catchment areas that feed those dams, which can sit a considerable distance from where the weather actually feels wetter. You can be sitting under a grey, drizzly sky in Nadi or Suva while Monasavu, sitting elsewhere entirely, receives none of it at all. It is a small but genuinely important piece of literacy for anyone in tourism to carry into this season, because it changes how you read your own weather.
This is exactly why FHTA took part in the Weather Ready Nation for Tourism workshop this year, run by FMS and the Hydrologic Research Centre out of San Diego. The purpose was precisely this shift, moving an industry from simply watching a forecast to acting on it, turning weather and water information into decisions a hotel, tour operator, marina or transport provider can use before a hazard becomes an emergency rather than after. We are taking that seriously as an association, and recommending that our members do the same.
Preparation starts with knowing your real water position, not simply whether you own a tank. And knowing how many days your business operations could keep operating under normal occupancy, and separately under peak occupancy, if your usual supply were disrupted tomorrow. It means reducing demand now rather than waiting for restrictions to force the issue, checking leaks, irrigation schedules, laundry and kitchen consumption, pool operations and whether landscaping genuinely needs treating as though it were permanently wet season. WAF has already asked large water users, hotels and resorts among them, to put conservation plans in place, giving operators clear cover to make these changes now rather than defending them once restrictions are already in force.
Energy deserves the same attention, given how tightly our hydro system is tied to rainfall. Backup power, generator readiness and fuel arrangements are worth reviewing alongside water planning, not as a separate conversation. Supply chains matter too, particularly for remote and outer island properties relying on rainwater or groundwater rather than mains connections, because if scarcity spreads across the country, demand for water trucks and bottled supply rises everywhere at once, not just at your own gate.
More important than any operational checklist is community. Tourism does not draw on a separate water system from the villages and towns that surround it. The same catchments, dams and infrastructure serve everyone, and we have worked with WAF before on exactly this question, recognising that tourism development needs to factor in existing water capacity, and that tourism investment can genuinely help strengthen infrastructure that benefits neighbouring communities too. Preparedness here is not about protecting a business from its surroundings. It is about protecting the whole destination together.
Fiji heads into this dry stretch while approaching cyclone season, running November through April. An operator could reasonably spend months preparing for drought and then face a major rainfall event or storm instead. Most of the same preparation covers both events. A water tank helps during drought and just as much after a cyclone knocks out the mains supply. Proper drainage protects against heavy rain. Leak detection saves water whether conditions are dry or wet. Backup power matters whether the disruption comes from prolonged dry weather or a storm passing through.
The experts tell us no two El Niño events behave identically, and nothing here is inevitable. But with below-normal rainfall already on the record, dry conditions genuinely on the ground in several areas, water sources sitting at critical levels right now, and forecasts pointing the same direction through early next year – that’s sufficient information to act sensibly today, without waiting for a crisis to be officially declared. The right time to prepare is while the taps are still running normally, the generators still start on the first try, and there is still time to fix what would otherwise become a far more expensive problem later. The adage still rings true – be prepared.
Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 17 September 2026)
Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association
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