Nitrate content in water rising, DEQ says

The Division of Environmental Quality has expressed concern over the delay in the completion of the airport sewer line connection project because of the increasing bacterial contamination in groundwater which will adversely affect the people’s health.

DEQ executive director Ignacio V. Cabrera said recent samplings results from nearby wells confirm the rise in nitrate concentrations toward maximum safe levels for human health as well as the presence of microbiological contaminants.

Saipan International Airport overlies one of Saipan’s major groundwater aquifers which provides a major portion of the island’s public water supply. Almost 1,000 households will benefit from the sewer line project which will run from Saipan airport to Agingan Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The ports authority is still discussing with Pacific Drilling Ltd., the contractor of the project, the schedule for the immediate resumption of the $4.9 million sewer line project after CPA and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. signed an agreement specifying the financial responsibility of each agency, paving the way for its completion.

“Both of these contaminants are directly indicative of the influence of wastewater disposal within the airport area,” said Cabrera in a letter to Carlos H. Salas, executive director of the Commonwealth Ports Authority.

He said apparent lack of progress on the airport sewerline connection project concerns DEQ because its objective to protect one of Saipan’s most important freshwater aquifers, has not been met.

Cabrera raised the possibility that over time, the continued operation of the airport’s septic system and the discharge of related facilities could result in eventual abandonment of nearby wells since these contaminants have exceeded the CNMI Maximum Contaminant Levels.

Ten years ago, former DEQ Chief Russell Mechem II has raised the alarm on the groundwater contamination in the vicinity of the airport due to increasing levels of bacterial contamination.

Since the time DEQ first requested the ports authority to connect to the island’s sewer system, Cabrera noted that the airport and its associated facilities have undergone tremendous expansion.

“Wastewater discharges from several large projects built during this time were permitted only with the understanding that they would eventually be connected to the island’s sewer system through the airport sewer line,” he said.