A clean lagoon, a commitment for tomorrow

Always faithful to my commitment to provide to my fellow citizens the harmony they aspire to in their living I have chosen to register my term as mayor in a sustainable development, initiating many diverse actions since 1989.

The important progress obtained in protecting the water supply, preserving the natural environment, the waste management have engaged the municipality in a constant process of improving rewarded ten years ago by the blue flag label. The reputation of Bora Bora is maintained by its ability at dealing with the challenge of preserving its natural resources while pursuing its economic development, mainly touristic and urbanistic.

To reach such a level of achievement, the urban and environmental politics of the municipality have established a long term plan based on the resolving of the three recurrent problems: the potable water supply, waste water and waste management.

Gaston Tong Sang
Bora Bora Mayor since 1989

The heart of the Sustainable Bora Bora

Access to water

Concerning potable water the distribution network has been reinforced and achieved in 1997. The alimentation is provided by additional drillings, then completed in 2001, 2006 and 2007 by three desalination of seawater plants.

Moreover, in 2005, a tertiary treatment by ultra filtration membranes has been installed on the sewage plant of Povai resulting in the production today of 500 cubic meters of high quality recycled water to be used not only for watering but also for industrial purpose and for extinguishing fires. Today this unit allows to save 10 % of the island fresh water. The success of the process of reusing the wastewater has been rewarded by the prize of innovation Suez in 2005.

The implementation of three plants of seawater desalination by reverse osmosis has permitted to produce enough water for the population of the island and the hotels on the different motu (islets). The exploitation of the wastewater induces a complementary resource, industrial water, used notably for sprinkling the hotels and public gardens.

Sanitation

For its sanitation Bora Bora is equipped with a collective sanitation network on the whole island. Two biological purification stations with a capacity equivalent to 20 000 inhabitants operate the treatment offering excellent results for the quality of the bathing water on the island’s twenty beaches.

With the installation of a collective sanitation network and the treatment of wastewater in the two biological purification stations the creation of a station of fat treatment and the expedition of the restaurants’ used oil to Tahiti to be recycled by a local company.

The waste management

To handle the waste, it started being collected door by door in 1997. Then , in 2002 a composting station was created, followed, in 2007 by a technical burying center of category 2 and 3.

With the realisation of a green waste composting center, the realisation of a technical burying center (CET) of category 2 and 3, the initialisation of the selective collection of recyclable and special waste, in 2011, the municipality has proceeded to an extension of the CET and the creation of an additional burying unit of category 2.

In 2012 the program of waste collecting has been optimised, the pricing revised, different kinds of waste disposal put in operation. In order to be efficient in the field of sustainable development the Bora Bora municipality maintains its efforts in terms of potable water supply, industrial water distribution, purification of waste water, management of waste and domestic power and improvement of quality of life.

The Pavillon Bleu Ecolabel

The environment and the sustainable development take an important place in the island’s politics, it has been the spearhead of its council’s action for more than twenty years. In 2017, the efforts of the municipality have been rewarded for the seventeenth consecutive year by the prestigious Blue flag , symbol of an exemplary environmental achievement.

Anxious to preserve its resources while insuring its social and economic development, Bora Bora has committed itself for several years in a strategy aiming at protecting sustainably its environment and guarantying the healthiest possible living space for its population. The actions in this sense have enabled the island to receive the Suez prize for innovation in2005 for the project of industrial water, the Marianne d’Or prize in 2007 and the Blue Flag since the years 2000.

Created by the French office for the foundation for Education and Environment in Europe in 1985, the Pavillon Bleu valorizes each year the touristic locations and marinas who lead permanently a policy of searching and taking actions in favour of a quality environment. This ecolabel incites the local communities or the marina managers to put forward the environment criteria in their policy of economic and touristic development, in addition and reinforcement of the mandatory national and European directives.

For more information : environnement@commune-borabora.pf

Evolution Farm

The main commitment of the members of the council is to offer to the population of Bora Bora the right to a good health. This entitlement to a healthy life is possible thanks to the access to drinkable water and a preserved environment, but also thanks to 100 % natural food products.

The initiative of the elected team since june 2013 is an agricultural center with 100 % organic products, using no chemical other than those already present in the soil. This site wants to be not just a market but a place where the consumers have the opportunity to pick up the goods and watch their evolution. More than a school this 4 hectares plantation offers a complete theoretical and practical formation. More than 30 youth have already been formed and several of them already are making a living out of this windfall. The central kitchen has been using these natural products for more than a year.

This project would not have existed without the support of an experimented and recognised instructor, M. Johnny Ridge, the involvement of the local farmers united in an association, and the impulse of the members of the island council. In the long run, beside a training center, a bank for seeds, a compost or seaweed based fertilizer and a honey production station will become part of this site, destined to amateurs and professionals.

Environmental awareness raising

Along with these major works, campaigns to raise consciousness about the environment have been initiated with the help of the island’s environmental associations to support the municipality in its projects of sustainable development.

Thus the municipality supports, mainly financially, the island’s associations in the fields of environment, tourism, culture, education and sports. Yearly the municipality grants about 830 000 euros (100 000 000 Fcfp) from its budget to the 40 associations of the island.

Special programs of environmental education and sustainable development have been implemented with the support of the pedagogic team of the school teachers of the island. Education is associated to each project of environmental consciousness, with, notably, the naming of an educational referent inside the management and the monitoring of the Blue Flag created in 2005.

For more information on the different projects of the municipality, please contact the City Hall secretary at: 40 605 800 or courrier@commune-borabora.pf.