Still no water in some areas

A number of Saipan households have yet to receive normal water service, if at all, as 10 of the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation’s water pumps remain non-operational.

Pamela Mathis, CUC special adviser for corporate communications, said that these pumps burned out during the onslaught of Typhoon Nabi on Wednesday. The pumps are at three CUC wells in Dandan and Koblerville.

The two affected wells in Dandan are feeding water into the Iglesia ni Cristo Church area in As Lito.

The other well, located in Koblerville, generates water around the St. Jude Church and Takai Fish Market areas in As Lito, as well as the football field at the Saipan International Airport.

Mathis said affected residents might not be able to get water service until Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005.

Meanwhile, other Saipan villages are advised that they will continue to experience low water pressure while the reservoir at the Northern Marianas College is in the process of filling up.

The reservoir obtains water from two Koblerville wells that, after the typhoon, only began producing water yesterday. As of 5pm, the reservoir had only 3 feet and 5 inches of water, Mathis said.

“This is an incredibly low amount of water. The pumps will keep pumping tonight (Sunday night), but we should not expect the water service to be back to normal tomorrow [Monday],” she said.

The NMC reservoir serves the villages of Chalan Kanoa, Susupe, San Jose, Oleai, and portions of Garapan.

On the power situation, Mathis said there is only one area that still did not have power since the typhoon and it is located in As Perdido. She assured affected residents that CUC’s power manager Diego Babauta and his crew would continue working to get the area back online.

Other residents who have no power supply are those whose own electrical system was damaged by the typhoon. “What they need to do is to get a certified electrician to fix the problem and, then, CUC will come in to inspect and reconnect them to the grid,” Mathis said.

Furthermore, she reported that the calibration of the newly fixed Engine No. 8 at Power Plant 1 proceeded as scheduled on Saturday.

“Everything was done on schedule and we are confident that the engine will be back on service, as announced, by Tuesday,” Mathis said.

The final calibrations culminate the month-long repair on Engine No. 8, one of the three broken engines at Power Plant 1 in Lower Base.

The project involved fixing severe vibration on one of the base load generators at the power plant. Man B&W Diesel (Singapore) Ltd., the contractor hired by CUC, did this by installing 17 anchor bolts.

Engine No. 8 will provide additional capacity of 10.5 megawatts to CUC. It will enable the utility to handle the community’s demand for electricity and end load shedding, which has resulted in rotating blackouts on Saipan since July 28.