Benavente: Kagman has new water reservoir

A stable water supply in Kagman is soon to be expected following the installation of a new water reservoir in the area.

Acting Gov. Diego T. Benavente said the reservoir, which can store up to a million gallons of water, was recently installed in efforts to address frequent water supply interruption in the area during power outages.

For many years, he said, water is pumped directly from wells into the distribution system, which has become problematic every time there is a power outage.

“The proper system is to pump water from those wells into the reservoir, treat the water there, and send it down to the community. That’s what the Kagman community recently received,” said Benavente, who chairs the CNMI Water Task Force.

He said the reservoir project was a CUC project, but he said that the task force intends to duplicate the Kagman system in other parts of the island.

“What the task force will be doing throughout the islands to is to remove the present practice of pumping the water directly into the houses. For instance, in Koblerville, if power goes off, the pump in the wells go off, and there is no water in every home. In the case of Kagman now, if power goes off, we should still be able to continue to have water service,” he said.

Right now, only Kagman and As Matuis have waters pumped into reservoirs.

Meantime, Benavente urged the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to explain issues to the public “accordingly.”

He said he has received reports that when some residents inquired about the Kagman water problem recently, they were told to ask the task force.

“There has been a problem in the past so we continue to encourage and ask the CUC to deal with the public accordingly in the explanation of what the problem is—whether it is a power outage or a water problem. People are getting frustrated because when they call up, [they’d be told] to call the task force. It’s not just the way to explain it to the community,” he said.

He said that the previous week’s water outage may have been partly caused by the introduction of the new system.

“Because it’s a new system were finding problems with it. But I understand it’s been rectified,” he said.

The CUC said in a statement last week that the efficiency of CUC pumps in Kagman had greatly diminished and needed to be repaired.

CUC operates 13 water wells in Kagman. These wells pump to a 50,000 gallon tank and the water is boosted to a 1.0MG tank through three 40-horsepower pumps (two operational and one on standby).

Two months ago, the CUC said that the contractor was advised that the pumping rate of one of the pumps has greatly diminished and was asked to repair the problem under the project warranty. The contractor ordered the replacement part after learning that the pump impeller was already worn out.

Last week, CUC said the second pump experienced the same problem as Pump 1, leaving only one pump running now, thus resulting in low pressure or no water in elevated areas.

CUC said replacement impellers for all the three pumps have been ordered and expected to arrive shortly. Impellers, CUC said, are not readily available off the shelf but have to be manufactured to individual pump specifications.

CUC said that, to minimize the inconvenience to Kagman residents, it installed a water standpipe near the four-way intersection by Santa Soledad where residents can haul water from.

Likewise, CUC is installing a temporary booster pump (taken from other booster station) to complement the single pump that is currently operating to meet service demand.