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CNMI water projects need $29.3M more
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Posted on Sep 09 2005
The CNMI Water Task Force needs about $29.3 million more to fund its water infrastructure development projects in the Commonwealth.
Lt. Gov. Diego Benavente, head of the task force, reported that the group’s total estimated project cost was $49.6 million. Of this, $20.3 million has been secured through allocation of Covenant funding through fiscal year 2006 and special appropriations.
Benavente added that future Covenant funds would have to be committed to the task force unless the CNMI received special appropriations, such as that to be provided by a pending federal water bill.
The Water Resource Development Act of 2005 would authorize the appropriation of $20 million for CNMI water projects, according to the lieutenant governor.
This amount is independent of the Commonwealth’s entitlements under the Covenant.
The bill has passed both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives and is pending in conference committee, Benavente said.
The Water Task Force was established in March 2003 in response to Saipan’s lack of 24-hour water, which has raised health and safety concerns.
A month after the task force was formed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, through Winsler & Kelly Consulting Engineers, completed a report entitled the “Water Infrastructure Development Plan for the Island of Saipan.”
The plan evaluated current conditions and developed a comprehensive approach to improve the water system on Saipan. The recommendations included in the plan were estimated to cost a total of $139.6 million.
“Because this amount exceeded any foreseeable funding, the Water Task Force decided to focus on the first 10 recommended projects of the plan, with a total estimated project cost of $49.6 million,” Benavente noted.
The recommendations taken by the task force include the installation of water meters, increasing groundwater production, leak detection and systems repair, construction of rainwater catchments, relocation of treatment to reservoirs, and replacement of old waterlines, among others.
