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SGMA meets with the NMI Water Task Force
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Posted on May 21 2004
At the invitation of the CNMI Water Task Force headed by Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, Richard A. Pierce, executive director of the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association, met with the Water Task Force members and Commonwealth Utilities Corp. officials to discuss upcoming initiatives affecting SGMA garment factories.
The Water Task Force provided SGMA with its preliminary listing of major water well consumers, many of them listed as Saipan factory operations, with volume statistics, meter characteristics, billing information and plans for surveillance for proper supply, metering and fee consistency.
The Water Task Force will meet with the full SGMA membership in about two weeks to discuss where improvements can be made to properly supply and rate all large water consumers on Saipan. These meetings will also be held to discuss water consumption requirements and ways to improve reservoir systems for factory operations and dormitories.
SGMA will provide the Water Task Force with a cross reference of all factories with well systems, and a listing of subcontracting operations.
SGMA also provided the Water Task Force with its plans to work with the Division of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency to improve the water quality of Saipan’s wells through its own initiative to perform environmental audits at all SGMA member factories.
SGMA is comprised of 25 of the 27 licensed factories on Saipan, while the garment industry provides approximately 16,500 jobs and one-third of total CNMI budget income.
