In April 2021, RNZ reported that the Kiribati government had shipped a second desalination unit to the western island of Banaba aboard the chartered vessel MV Tekinati. About 300 people lived there. After months of drought the island's desalination equipment had failed; two weeks earlier Banaba had asked for help and received a first unit plus bottled water and containers. The island had no natural water source and depended on rainwater or desalinated water.
The report showed how heavily small Pacific islands without fresh water sources depended on working desalination equipment once drought exhausted their rainwater stores.
Source: RNZ