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Water Task Force gets $6.48M fresh funding
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Posted on Apr 28 2005
The Water Task Force said it has obtained a $6.48-million budget approval for fiscal year 2005 from the Office of Insular Affairs that will be used primarily for water service improvement projects in the CNMI.
Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, who heads the task force, said $4.125 million of the amount will be used in several water conservation projects that include the installation of state-of-the-art water meters, leak detection and repair of water lines and survey of existing water laterals.
The task force is set to install the first 4,000 smart meters, while a contract is under negotiation for an islandwide survey to identify and repair leaking waterlines.
Some $2.054 million of the total amount will go to well field development projects, and $300,000 will be used for well field isolation projects where wells will be piped into a water tank before distribution to ensure better maintenance of the water sources.
Benavente said the task force received the amount on April 23, 2005, following approval by the Department of the Interior of their request.
He said the task force submitted a funding proposal to Virginia Villagomez, CNMI capital improvement projects administrator, on March 16 this year following a grant received by the CNMI on Feb. 28 also this year.
“This fund will facilitate the overall program of improving the water service system,” said Benavente.
The task force said they were able to purchase a new drilling rig, and a tender truck for exploratory drilling as well as well drilling tools and equipment from funding received for fiscal year 2004.
Contracts were also awarded for well drilling operations that have yielded several new production wells, the task force said.
According to the task force, the FY 2005 funding will also be used to find additional sources of fresh water. (PR)
