Water Task Force gets new well drill rig

The Water Task Force has a new mobile well drilling rig—a behemoth that is expected to hasten the group’s goal of providing island residents with 24-hour water supply.

The rig, the latest model in its size featuring the latest technology, costs about $970,000 and was bought with funds provided by the U.S. Congress for well exploration. It was purchased from Schramm Inc., based in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

“This is our biggest purchase so far for the implementation of the project here for a pressurized system,” said Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, who chairs the task force. “The brand new rig is necessary because the rigs we have at [Commonwealth Utilities Corp.] are just so old that they’re breaking down all the time.”

The new rig, dedicated to the late Arthur Camacho, a former head driller for the CUC, is set to be mobilized tomorrow and will begin drilling on Tuesday, Nov. 9.

Benavente and task force program coordinator Don Smith explained that the task force expects to drill about 100 wells within a year.

“We’re looking for a 60-percent success rate on that, so we’re trying to accomplish the goal of two additional million gallons of water per day in the system with this drill rig,” Smith said. “This was purchased to basically ensure that the [task force] will fulfill our goal of pressurizing the water system by the end of next year.”

Smith said the rig will first be used to drill two remaining wells at the Obyan area—seven have already been drilled by CUC—followed with drilling at the Tapochao area. Wells will also drilled in the Talafofo area in the near future.

Introduced about a year ago, the task force’s 24/24 project aims to provide 24-hour water supply to all homes on Saipan within 24 months. The project is expected to be completed by next December.

The newly acquired rig is capable of drilling approximately 40,000 feet deep, far more than the current fleet of well drillers available at CUC.

Smith said that, due to age, the current fleet of drills can dig only up to 500 feet, which is not enough for the depth that will be drilled at the Tapochao area. An earlier study had identified the area as a possible water source.

“The area [in Tapochao] that we want to dig up is too deep for the rig that we presently have, so with this new drill rig, we should be able to drill that area,” he said. “We can go as deep as any level we have on Tinian, Rota and Saipan. [It] will drill any well we need to drill in the CNMI.”

Smith said the new rig would be used for drilling new wells while the old rigs owned by CUC would be used to repair existing wells.

“We will work with CUC so we can drill wells and have CUC repair wells with their rigs. This one will drill three to four times faster and can move much faster,” he said. “On average, we could drill a well in over a couple of days.”

Smith said maintenance of the rig would be handled by local maintenance companies; however, he does not expect maintenance for at least two years.

“There should be minimal maintenance on it other than preventative maintenance; repairs will be minimal,” he said. “That’s one of the things we wanted to do, remove all repair exercises that CUC was having to go through with their rigs, [which] would go down 80 percent of the time.”

“We’re setting up a maintenance program that’s going to be very intensive, and applied directly toward recommended procedures for maintenance for this drill rig,” he said.

Jon Ifert, service representative of Schramm Inc., is currently on island training local crews on the technical operations of the rig. A three-day classroom training was just concluded that included crew from the CUC and local well drilling company Alexander Inc.

Meanwhile, Benavente said that other private firms have also been contracted to drill wells. “We have a contract with a couple of well drilling companies and we’re going out and doing some of those drillings as well, so of course, we’ll be doing as much as possible.”

Benavente said that, after the 24/24 project is completed, the rig will be turned over to CUC.

He said, though, that drilling wells is just half the job; another concern is to provide potable or drinkable water from the tap.

He said an earlier study has proven that, although enough water is being pumped out of current wells, these wells are being “overpumped,” resulting in the low quality of tap water.

“We will be drilling enough number of wells so that we don’t have to overpump them. [This] will produce the quality water that we need,” he said. “So there’s the short-term goal of pressurizing the system for 24 hours, but the long-term goal of having safe drinking water in every home is the ultimate.”

He also reiterated that meeting both goals requires finding leaks and addressing them. “That’s why we’re not able to give everybody 24-hour water right now.”

The task force was created by Gov. Juan N. Babauta to address the water problem in the Commonwealth. About 50 percent of the island does not have 24-hour water supply.