Water task force gets OK for $800K drilling rig

Gov. Juan N. Babauta inked yesterday a contract for the purchase of a water well drilling rig that would be used to remedy the water problem on Saipan.

Governor’s information officer Peter Callaghan disclosed that Babauta signed a $835,911 contract to provide the CNMI Water Task Force with a water well drilling rig. The equipment would be used to help the team and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. dig up exploratory wells on the island.

Callaghan said the task force would drill as many as 60 new wells on Saipan within the next two years to provide for about 2 million gallons of water per day.

One million gallons of that would be new groundwater that would be piped to the existing utility system. The development of exploratory wells into production wells was originally recommended by the U.S. Geological System.

“Some new sites will be developed in established well fields while others will be drilled in areas that have never been explored on Saipan,” said Callaghan.

The other 1 million gallons would replace a similar amount of poor quality water that is now coursing through the water system. This will be done by systematically abandoning poorly developed production wells that are either too salty or are not cost-effective to operate due to very low yield.

“As the poor quality wells are abandoned, the new and more efficient—and better quality—wells will be brought online to replace the old,” said Callaghan.

The need for the well drilling rig is particularly sharp at higher elevations where explorations would be done, since larger and more reliable equipment is needed to drill down to sea level where additional groundwater may be found.

According to Callaghan, it was Chuck Jordan who recommended the purchase of the new equipment, as the only available well drilling equipment in the CNMI would not accomplish the proposed work in an efficient manner.

Jordan, who is the governor’s adviser on Capital Improvement Projects, also said that the use of equipment that is smaller than what is actually needed often results in exploratory wells being abandoned because the equipment inside the hole could not be retrieved when it goes in too deep.

“This condition can hamper the entire well drilling program on Saipan while waiting for replacement drilling tools and drill pipe. This situation can prove futile if only to lose them [equipment] again and again,” Jordan added.

He stressed that the new drilling rig would accomplish the necessary work at higher elevations more efficiently in terms of time and cost savings.