Pete A. envisions water festival on Saipan

In anticipation of more federal funds to fix and boost Saipan’s water system, water sufficiency on the island is not far away, Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio believes.

Tenorio wishes that someday, Saipan would have so much water that’s enough to prompt residents to hold water festivals.

“My hope is that someday, our island of Saipan will have so much water of good quality so that we can drink out of our faucets at home, that we might even hold annual water festivals as part of our tourists attraction,” said Tenorio in his 2005 report to the Legislature Thursday, generating applause from the audience.

The official cited that since his assumption to office three years ago, the CNMI has received a total of $3 million in direct appropriation from the U.S. Congress to improve the Commonwealth’s water system.

He said water drilling equipment and supplies were purchased using the funds.

As a result, new deepwells have been drilled and developed, “which in time will help alleviate Saipan’s chronic water shortage.”

Further, Tenorio said that the CNMI Water Task Force, headed by Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, allocated a substantial portion of the 702 capital improvement capital funds for 2004 and 2005 to critical water improvements.

“They [task force] made considerable progress in locating new sites at strategic locations for drilling new wells and increasing the volume of water in villages on Saipan that have suffered from the lack of water for a long time,” he said.

The task force, which was created two years ago, aims to provide 24-hour water supply on Saipan by December 2005.

The task force is leading the installation of smart meters in critical areas soon to promote cost-effective use of water.

Recognizing the deficient water supply on Saipan, Tenorio, since February 2003, has been calling for a declaration of water emergency on the island, pointing out that Saipan’s water is not fit for human consumption and is in violation of CNMI and federal drinking water standards.

He cited the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report assessing Saipan’s water as high in chloride, salty, undrinkable and insufficient.

Tenorio had called on the Legislature to pass a joint resolution that would reflect the urgency for more federal funding assistance to help fix the CNMI’s water infrastructure.

He said the critical need to improve the local water situation is given credence by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ report and recommendations on the CNMI’s water infrastructure.

This report, he said Thursday, has reached the President’s Interagency Group for Insular Areas and is up for submission to U.S. Congress by July this year.

“This report will form a strong basis for justifying funding request to improve our water system infrastructure,” he said.