ANNOUNCEMENT DEQ reminder

Saipan’s vegetation has been flourishing and important underground aquifers are being replenished because of the unseasonable rains during the past few days. But the Division of Environmental Quality is reminding people that the heavy showers can be a potential health problem too.

“When we get these heavy rains, there is a tremendous amount of runoff to the lagoon,” said DEQ Acting Director Antonio I. Guerrero. “In drainage areas, all the water is carrying upland pollutants to the nearshore marine environment. That’s why we want to caution people to stay out of the water near drainage areas, such as the drainage ditch located just south of the Dai-Ichi Hotel in Garapan. The western side of the island has many other drainage areas also, with a number of them existing along beach road.”