House committee tours utility sites

Saying they don’t need to travel off-island to learn how to care for and protect their voters, members of the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications recently visited the water and wastewater operations on Saipan.

“This is the greatest thing,” said PUTC chair Rep. Rosiky F. Camacho. “To see all of the technology here on our island, we are watching the process of collecting water, seeing all the problems and we learned why it can take a long time to improve services.”

He added: “It’s first hand experience that I received and I don’t need to travel to learn it.” PUTC meets every Monday.

Committee members toured various utility sites beginning with a mini-college course on Hydrology 101. The U.S. Geological Survey offered instruction from both its Saipan hydrologist, as well as the Hawaii District Manager. They explained island geology, hydrology and how water moves underground within the CNMI.

Based on the USGS maps, the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation knows where and how to drill for water, and most importantly CUC regulates the amount of water piped, resulting in higher quality.

USGS officials told PUTC that with proper drilling and more rain catchment units, Saipan residents could divert plans for expensive desalination project. They suggested postponing that option while continuing deep well and rain catchment operations.

Lawmakers toured first the Seventh Day Adventist clinic and housing units. The clinic catches rainwater and saves it in tanks connected to the units. In another innovative move, SDA also built an underground tank, using the top surface for an employee and fellowship basketball court.

Over at Price Costco, the business catches rainwater, storing 60,000 gallons under the building. According to the manager, the water is collected from the parking lot and rooftop.
The store uses only 15,000 gallons of CUC water a year because it successfully catches rainwater.

House leaders also visited CUC wells, such as the Maui 1 near the airport. A Maui well is an underground cave that collects water. To see the cave, members took an elevator ride deep into the earth, down 150 feet where they witnessed how CUC pumps up to 400 gallons of water per minute.

The amount of water varies based on the ocean tides and rain. “It costs a lot of money and probably a lot of lives too to build these deep wells and get the water to the people,” said Mr. Camacho.

Saipan has two Maui wells that were originally built by the U.S. Navy.