EPA urges CUC to hire more staff for water systems ASAP

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has urged the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to press ahead as quickly as possible with the hiring of more staff for its water systems.

In its response, CUC legal counsel Deborah E. Fisher assured that the utilities agency is working diligently to ensure water quality and to develop and train its operators.

“CUC is committed to correct these deficiencies and to eventually provide 24-hour delivery of clean safe drinking water,” Fisher said.

EPA legal counsel Bradley O’Brien, in a report filed in District Court, said they are concerned that positions are not being filled as quickly as possible so that adequate, qualified personnel are available to operate the water systems on an ongoing basis.

O’Brien said that CUC continues to work toward satisfying specified conditions, including filling necessary operator positions for each of the three water systems.

On Saipan, CUC’s water operation is shorthanded, he said, resulting in a coliform violation in March 2011.

In addition, O’Brien said, as reported in its July 28, 2011, quarterly report, CUC has been unable to place a Direct Responsible Charge operator on Rota since February 2011 and continues to backfill that position from its understaffed Saipan operations.

“Filling this position is especially needed as CUC recently experienced system disruptions on Rota when its water reservoir drained out and its main water lines were damaged,” O’Brien said.

In its reply, Fisher said that CUC added 10 certified operators since December 2010, bringing the total number to 25.

“We believe our in-house training program has been instrumental in this effort, and we continue to offer both operational and certification level training to our employees,” she said.

As for filling operator positions on Rota, Fisher said that CUC is having a hard time hiring one additional DRC operator. She pointed out, though, that CUC has a lower level certified worker in place on Rota.

CUC previously hired four DRC positions last quarter; the DRC for Rota resigned in February after a brief stay. Fisher said the remaining three are still aboard. She said they are currently backfilling the Rota post with a Level 3 certified operator from Saipan.

CUC did try to hire internally for this position, Fisher said, but has been unsuccessful.

“We continue to advertise the positions and believe Rota’s depressed economy, remote location, high cost of living, and lack of medical facilities are contributing factors in this recruitment,” Fisher said.

She confirmed that Rota did experience a supply problem due to a ruptured water main but said that, once reported and the leak was identified, CUC crews boosted supply by operating Rota’s three wells to quickly fill the drained reservoir.

She said that CUC shares EPA’s concerns with the pace of hiring; however, they disagree with EPA’s statements that blame the personnel loads with water quality violations.

Fisher said the total coliform violations were on Saipan and were due to elevated turbidity levels. While not a health emergency, Fisher said, it is a concern and public notice was properly issued.

She said CUC continues to monitor its Saipan water systems daily and attributes any water quality issues to the lack of 24-hour pressurization, poor equipment, early warning devices on pumps, motors, and water quality instrumentation.