Micronesia (Federated States) Reservoir Transparency

Evaluator notes

The Federated States of Micronesia is a structural case in the RTI: a Pacific island nation with no surface reservoirs and no reservoir transparency to evaluate. Water supply across FSM's four states depends almost entirely on rainwater catchment systems, shallow groundwater wells (with frequent high-iron content issues), and in rare cases, limited piped distribution run by state utilities such as CPUC in Chuuk. In Weno (Chuuk's main island), fewer than 1% of households were connected to the CPUC piped water supply as of 2020, and the system sources 95% of its water from deep wells rather than surface reservoirs. The RTI near-zero scores reflect this structural reality, not a governance failure of the usual kind. FSM faces acute water security risks — seasonal drought, dependency on rainfall, climate change impacts on outer islands — documented extensively by ADB, World Bank, and the Pacific Community (SPC). These challenges are being addressed through development-bank-funded projects rather than national data infrastructure. Until FSM develops surface water storage infrastructure or publishes hydrological monitoring data, the RTI score will remain near zero by definition. The sole non-zero score is language_usability, reflecting that English-language publication would be immediately accessible internationally if data ever existed to publish.

Evaluated by Jaime Delgado · 2026-09-15 · Methodology v1.3.0