Position Title
REF 1726: Manager Water Quality and Treatment
About Our Organisation
The Water Authority of Fiji is a corporate body established under the Water Authority of Fiji Act 2007 to make provision for the effective management and administration of the Water and the wastewater systems.
We are responsible for providing access to quality drinking water and wastewater services to over 159,000 and 33,540 residential and non-residential metered customers in the urban areas of Fiji and also setting up water supply systems in rural areas.
Position Objective
The Manager Water Quality & Treatment is responsible for providing strategic, operational, and regulatory leadership in the management of water quality, water and wastewater treatment performance across the Water Authority of Fiji.
The role oversees the National Water Quality Laboratory and Treatment Plant Operations and ensures that all laboratory operations, treatment processes, and monitoring systems comply with the Fiji National Drinking Water Quality Standards, the Environment Management Act 2005, Waste Disposal Permit conditions, and internationally recognised accreditation standards including IANZ and ISO/IEC 17025.
The position plays a critical role in ensuring that WAF consistently delivers safe drinking water and environmentally compliant wastewater services, while also providing technical leadership, engineering guidance, and regulatory assurance across all regions and operational areas.
Key Accountabilities
- National Water Quality Governance and Compliance
- Lead and enforce full compliance with Fiji National Drinking Water Quality Standards, the Environment Management Act (EMA) 2005, Waste Disposal Permit (WDP) requirements, and all applicable Ministry of Health and Department of Environment regulations, ensuring consistent application across all WAF operations
- Establish, implement, and continuously improve a national water quality compliance framework, including the development and operationalisation of Water Safety Plans (WSPs) and Drinking Water Safety Plans (DWSPs) for all water supply systems.
- Ensure timely, accurate, and comprehensive regulatory reporting to relevant authorities while maintaining strong audit trails and documentation to support compliance verification.
- Lead the identification, investigation, reporting, and closure of all water quality non-compliance incidents, ensuring corrective and preventive actions are effectively implemented and risks are mitigated.
- Water and Wastewater Treatment Oversight
- Provide strategic and technical oversight of all water and wastewater treatment plants, ensuring that treatment processes consistently meet operational performance targets and regulatory standards.
- Guide regional teams in optimising treatment processes, including coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection for water treatment, as well as biological and chemical processes for wastewater treatment systems.
- Lead troubleshooting of treatment performance issues, drive process improvements, and implement corrective measures to enhance plant efficiency, reliability, and compliance.
- Ensure that treated water quality and wastewater effluent consistently meet regulatory discharge standards, including oversight of sludge management, backwash water handling, and environmental compliance.
- Oversee, in coordination with the Senior Engineer Treatment and Manager Regional Operations, the management of service agreements for treatment plant servicing and maintenance, ensuring that all contracted works are delivered efficiently, meet technical specifications, and support optimal plant performance and reliability.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives to support the upgrading and standardisation of partial water treatment schemes into full water treatment systems, ensuring alignment with national standards, improved treatment performance, and long-term service reliability.
- National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) Management
- Oversee the full operational management of the National Water Quality Laboratory, ensuring effective delivery of microbiological, chemical, and physical testing services in line with national and international standards.
- Maintain and continuously improve laboratory accreditation status, ensuring compliance with IANZ requirements and ISO/IEC 17025 standards at all times.
- Manage laboratory quality management systems, including calibration, validation, internal audits, and external assessments, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and reliability.
- Ensure that laboratory operations are efficient, responsive, and aligned with WAF’s operational and regulatory requirements.
- Laboratory Certification, Accreditation, and Audit Readiness
- Lead and manage all laboratory certification and accreditation processes, including microbiology and chemistry testing disciplines, ensuring alignment with international standards and regulatory expectations.
- Develop, review, and standardise standard operating procedures (SOPs), quality manuals, and testing methodologies to ensure consistency, accuracy, and compliance.
- Ensure the laboratory is fully prepared for annual IANZ assessments and ISO audits by maintaining audit readiness, conducting internal reviews, and addressing any gaps proactively.
- Manage the timely closure of audit findings and drive continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen laboratory systems and processes.
- National Sampling, Monitoring, and Reporting Programs
- Develop and implement comprehensive national sampling programs covering drinking water sources, treatment plants, reticulation networks, reservoirs, wastewater influent and effluent, sludge, and environmental discharge points.
- Ensure that all sampling activities are conducted in accordance with regulatory requirements, approved standards, and internal procedures, maintaining consistency across all regions.
- Oversee the analysis, interpretation, and validation of water quality data to ensure accuracy and reliability for operational and regulatory decision-making.
- Prepare and submit detailed water quality compliance reports to Executive Management, WAF Board, Department of Water & Sewerage, the Department of Environment, and the Ministry of Health in a timely and structured manner.
- Chemical Procurement and Treatment Support
- Lead the planning, forecasting, and procurement of all treatment chemicals required for water and wastewater operations, including aluminium sulphate, chlorine, lime, polymers, soda ash, poly aluminium chloride and other process chemicals used at WAF.
- Coordinate closely with the Senior Engineer Treatment, Manager Regional Operations, and Procurement team to ensure effective supply chain management and alignment with operational needs.
- Ensure adequate stock levels are maintained through risk-based inventory planning while preventing overstocking, stockouts, and supply disruptions.
- Monitor and ensure the quality, safety, and compliance of all treatment chemicals supplied and used across WAF facilities.
- Laboratory Reagents and Consumables Management
- Oversee the procurement, storage, and management of all laboratory reagents, consumables, and testing materials required to support uninterrupted laboratory operations.
- Ensure that all reagents and consumables meet ISO and IANZ standards, including proper handling, storage conditions, traceability, and expiry management.
- Maintain optimal inventory levels to prevent disruptions to testing and compliance activities while ensuring cost efficiency.
- Asset Management for Laboratory and Monitoring Systems
- Lead the asset management of laboratory equipment, online analysers, and water quality monitoring instruments, ensuring their availability, reliability, and accuracy.
- Ensure that preventive maintenance programs, calibration schedules, and validation processes are implemented and adhered to across all equipment.
- Develop and implement lifecycle management plans, including asset replacement strategies and capital planning for laboratory and monitoring infrastructure.
- SCADA and Online Water Quality Monitoring
- Oversee the integration, functionality, and performance of online water quality monitoring systems and their linkage with SCADA platforms across WAF operations.
- Ensure real-time monitoring and data capture of critical water quality parameters such as turbidity, residual chlorine, and pH to support proactive operational management.
- Promote the use of digital tools and data analytics to enhance treatment optimisation, system performance, and decision-making processes.
- Engineering and Technical Advisory to Treatment and NWQL Teams
- Provide expert technical guidance on water and wastewater treatment processes, including plant design, upgrades, optimisation, and performance improvement initiatives.
- Support capital infrastructure projects through participation in design reviews, commissioning processes, and validation of treatment system performance.
- Promote the adoption of best practices, innovative technologies, and engineering solutions to enhance operational efficiency and compliance.
- Environmental Compliance and Regulatory Reporting
- Ensure full compliance with environmental regulations, including the Environment Management Act 2005 and Waste Disposal Permit requirements for all WAF operations.
- Oversee effluent discharge monitoring, environmental sampling, and reporting to ensure adherence to regulatory limits and conditions.
- Engage proactively with the Department of Environment and other regulatory bodies to ensure transparency, compliance, and timely submission of required reports.
- Risk Management and Business Continuity
- Identify, assess, and manage risks related to water quality, treatment plant performance, laboratory operations, and regulatory compliance, ensuring alignment with WAF’s risk appetite framework.
- Develop and implement mitigation strategies and contingency plans to address potential disruptions, including chemical shortages, treatment failures, and laboratory outages.
- Support the development and implementation of business continuity plans to ensure uninterrupted water and wastewater services.
- Budgeting and Financial Management
- Develop and manage budgets for laboratory operations, treatment chemicals, and consumables, ensuring alignment with organisational priorities and financial constraints.
- Monitor expenditure and implement cost control measures while maintaining compliance, operational efficiency, and service delivery standards.
- Leadership, Capacity Building, and Culture
- Lead, mentor, and develop the Treatment Plant, National Water Quality Laboratory team and water quality personnel across WAF, fostering a high-performance and accountable work culture.
- Drive staff training, professional development, and knowledge transfer initiatives to strengthen organisational capability in water quality and treatment operations.
- Promote a culture of safety, compliance, continuous improvement, and innovation across all areas of responsibility.
- Stakeholder Engagement and External Services
- Act as the primary technical representative for WAF in engagements with key stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health, Department of Water & Sewerage, External Customers, Department of Environment, IANZ, and ISO auditors.
- Oversee the delivery of laboratory services to external customers, ensuring high standards of quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
- Maintain strong relationships with stakeholders to support compliance, collaboration, and service excellence.
- Continuous Improvement and Innovation in the Treatment and Water Quality Space
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives across laboratory operations and treatment processes to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and service delivery outcomes, including supporting the transition and upgrading of partial treatment systems into fully compliant treatment plants aligned with national standards.
- Promote the adoption of digital technologies, automation, and international best practices to strengthen WAF’s operational capability and performance.
- General Responsibilities
- Ensure full compliance with WAF policies, occupational health and safety requirements, and governance frameworks in all areas of responsibility.
- Contribute to organisational strategic planning, operational improvements, and cross-functional initiatives as required.
- Perform any other duties as assigned by the Chief Operating Officer or Chief Executive Officer in support of WAF’s objectives.
Qualification and Experience Requirement
The Applicant must possess a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science, Chemistry, Process Engineering, Water & Wastewater Engineering or Microbiology with at least 6 years’ experience in an organization working with water & wastewater treatment operations and process engineering, certified laboratory, high end analytical equipment and compliance reporting, 3 years of which as a supervisor or manager’s role and at least 2-3 year’s served on a Senior Process, Quality Assurance or Treatment Engineer . Post Graduate Certificate in the above-mentioned streams will be an added advantage.
Skills and Abilities
- Demonstrated extensive experience in water quality management, laboratory operations, and water and wastewater treatment within a utility or large-scale operational environment, with strong understanding of end-to-end treatment systems and compliance frameworks.
- Proven expertise in laboratory sampling, testing, analysis, and reporting of microbiological and chemical parameters, with strong knowledge of scientific principles, QA/QC systems, and data integrity.
- Demonstrated ability to establish, manage, and maintain ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory systems, including audit readiness, calibration, validation, and compliance with IANZ or equivalent standards.
- Extensive knowledge of Fiji National Drinking Water Standards, Environment Management Act (EMA) 2005, Waste Disposal Permit requirements, and relevant regulatory frameworks, with ability to ensure compliance across multiple sites.
- Strong technical expertise in water and wastewater treatment processes, including optimisation, troubleshooting, chemical dosing, sludge management, and effluent compliance.
- Proven ability to provide high-level technical and strategic advice to senior management, including preparation of regulatory reports, executive briefings, and performance assessments.
- Demonstrated experience in managing sampling and monitoring programs, as well as laboratory reagents and treatment chemical procurement, including supply chain coordination and risk-based inventory management.
- Proven capability in asset management of laboratory equipment and online monitoring systems, including maintenance planning, calibration, lifecycle management, and SCADA integration.
- Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills, including engagement with regulators, auditors (IANZ/ISO), contractors, and internal teams, and management of service agreements for treatment plant maintenance.
- Demonstrated ability to drive continuous improvement and innovation, including upgrading partial treatment systems into fully compliant treatment plants and adopting best practices and new technologies.
- Have a valid driving license
How To Apply For Position
Interested candidates are advised to apply online and complete the recruitment requirements on the portal. All applications should be received no later than 10th April, 2026
INCOMPLETE & LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. ONLY SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES WILL BE CONTACTED.
Employment Type
Established
SBU
Operations
Sub-Section
Water Treatment and Labs
Salary Scale
$72,000.00-$90,000.00 Per year
Job Location
National Water Quality Lab, Kinoya
Vacancy Valid Till
April 10, 2026
