CUC acts on leaking pipe

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. sent its crew yesterday to check the leaking water pipe on Publiku Street on Lower Navy Hill that was the subject of complaints by three senior citizens.

CUC also stated that the elderly couple who received a billing in the amount of $1,883 for one month water supply will not be assessed that amount.

Teodoro Guiao, 65, Ernesto M. Castillano, 85, and Lilia Castillano, 60, all residents of Publiku Street, on Tuesday said that CUC had failed for two years to act on their complaint of a leaking pipe in their area. The Castillano couple also stated that apparently due to the leak problem, CUC had billed them $1,883 for a one-month water supply.

CUC Water and Sewer Division deputy director Bruce Megarr told Saipan Tribune yesterday that two of its crew were sent yesterday morning to Publiku Street.

“We had a truck on standby,” Megarr said.

He said the crews were waiting for representatives from the telephone company or other agencies that might have underground structures in the area such as phone lines.

“So when we start digging we don’t cut off phone services for the entire neighborhood. Sometimes that coordination becomes difficult, especially when it is raining,” he said.

The deputy director said representatives of other agencies did not arrive because they were busy due to the fire in Chalan Piao yesterday.

“When we stick a backhoe on the earth, we need to have clearance from the Department of Public Works. We need to have clearance from the telephone company. We need to have clearance from power that there’s nothing underground that we’re going to be hit,” he said.

Megarr said they’re expecting to mark up the place yesterday and that they will begin work today, Thursday.

“As long as we can get the underground structures identified, we can proceed with the repairs,” he said.

On the $1,883 billing to the Castillano couple, Megarr said there was an error in the water reading. He said Mr. Castillano’s meter is in fact in the process of being replaced.

“We are not going to charge him. This is a meter reading error. Are we sure how much water went through his meter? No, we’re not. So we are going to give Mr. Castillano the benefit of the doubt,” he said.

Megarr said CUC would assess Castillano’s usage over the next couple of months and apply that usage going back to when the dispute first began.