Water desalination project pressed

A proposed water desalination plant on Saipan has drawn fresh attention from local officials as the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation seeks ways to undertake the costly project aimed at alleviating serious water shortages in some areas on the island.

Saying it is the only solution to the perennial problem, House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial has pressed the government-owned utility corporation to revive the plan that has been held off twice due to high costs of building such a facility.

“Let’s not fool around with preventive measures now because we have an epidemic water problem. Let’s go directly to a curative measure, and that is to install a system that will guarantee drinking water,” he told in an interview.

The Speaker met earlier with CUC Executive Director Timothy P. Villagomez to discuss ways on how to resolve some of the problems that have continued to block construction of the desalination plant, particularly the funding issue.

There was no specific action plan reached at the meeting, but Mr. Villagomez disclosed the utility corporation would carry out a new feasibility study to determine how the proposed facility could be installed at lower costs.

“The CUC board has approved my recommendation to hire an expert in this area to guide us in making sure that there is proper information and proper guidance,” he said.

“The Speaker offers his help to assist CUC in what the Legislature can do to address this issue,” added Mr. Villagomez.

The project has floated on and off at CUC for nearly five years, while officials were hesitant about pushing such an expensive undertaking without the support of the residents and, especially lawmakers who had balked at subsidizing anticipated high water rates.

New RFP

Last year, a committee created by the CUC board was mulling a plan to issue a new request for proposal in a search for cheaper water desalination technology, but it was put on hold following the controversy on the Saipan’s 80-megawatt power project.

The new proposal would have emphasized the cost of the desal plant since CUC scrapped the latest plan in March 1999 and agreed to start from scratch in hopes to find a less expensive means of building the plant.

Under the old proposal, CUC customers would have to pay ten-fold than their current utility bills to finance the $100 million project offered by Earth Tech, a U.S. water technology and engineering firm.

A survey conducted by the utility company before junking the project indicated people’s disapproval on the cost-sharing agreement which was the only solution CUC believed to the financing problem.

According to Mr. Villagomez, the House leader wants all these problems addressed once and for all so that Saipan will be assured of safe and potable water.

He said water resources on the island are very limited despite efforts by the U.S. Geological Survey to tap other sources, such as Mt. Tagpochao, to meet the daily needs of the residents.

“The efforts of USGS should be applauded for trying to define the ground aquifers that we have,” the CUC chief explained. “At the same time, we have to be mindful whether or not we have enough resources to sustain the population that we have.”

A common means of providing water in several island nations, the technology will produce potable water from the sea in a highly effective, but a costly process viewed as last hope by Saipan residents perennially hit by dry wells.

The desal plant has been one of the alternatives mapped out by CUC as part of its water development program. In the past few months when its crews drilled areas in Tagpochau, some wells were found to be good source of water for central villages of Garapan, Gualo Rai and Chinatown.