Agingan outfall project inches forward

The six-year-overdue construction of an ocean outfall in Agingan is finally moving along, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency providing additional financial support to the project.

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is now in the process of hiring an architectural and engineering firm to provide consultancy services for the Agingan ocean outfall construction.

This comes almost six years after EPA issued an order against CUC over environmental violations at the Agingan wastewater treatment plant.

CUC had not been able to comply with the order due to lack of funding.

However, acting CUC grants manager Janice Tenorio said yesterday that the utility firm recently received an EPA grant that covers the entire cost of hiring construction management services, as well as part of the actual construction expenses.

She refused to disclose the grant amount because it would give potential bidders an idea of CUC’s budget for the project.

Tenorio said that, while majority of the budget came from EPA, some funds were also identified from other CUC sources, which she also declined to specify.

The Agingan ocean outfall project consists of the installation of a sewerline outfall solely by horizontal directional drilling method, according to CUC. It includes land and underwater piping, junction structures, demolition of the existing clarifier, connection to existing system, and diffuser assembly, among other things.

CUC added that the construction manager should have experience on underwater construction or any similar undertaking.

The utility firm wants the ocean outfall completed within 360 days from the start of construction.

The project is being undertaken pursuant to EPA’s November 1999 order, which cited for its failure to construct an ocean outfall and improve the quality of water effluent being discharged from the Agingan treatment plant into the ocean, and for its inability to match funds for a $1.2 million grant from the environmental agency for Agingan’s plant repairs.

CUC’s continued failure to comply with the order prompted another EPA warning contained in a Sept. 24, 2004 message faxed by EPA environmental engineer Michael Lee to the utility firm.

“CUC needs to take whatever steps necessary to secure adequate funding for construction of the ocean outfall to ensure compliance as soon as possible. Failure to do so may result in EPA elevating this matter, which would result in penalties of up to $32,500 per day per violation,” read a portion of the fax.