A newly operational water testing lab opened yesterday in Nukuʻalofa to monitor Fanga’uta lagoon water and marine ecosystem.
The new lab saves time and costs as in the past Tonga have to send water samples overseas for testing.
“The newly established water testing laboratory will be the beginning of an ongoing collaborative effort involving the various stakeholders monitoring the Lagoon’s ecosystem health,” the Acting Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni said.
“We hope to expand the existing laboratory into the future to be able to cater for other national research needs.”
“Today we witness our own laboratory. Before we used different laboratory, we used the Ministry of Health’s lab for testing, we used Tonga Water Board’s laboratory but now we have our own facility,” CEO of the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources ‘Asipeli Palaki said.
“We will no longer depend on other government ministries and we will no longer send out samples overseas for further analysis. We will do it here in Tonga.”
