More water for Kana Tabla, Finasisu, As Lito

As the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation wraps up week-long campaign for water quality education and conservation efforts, operation teams are busy completing a new project that will get extra water to Saipan customers.

CUC this week opened a new water transmission system at the Northern Marianas College campus. New pipelines and booster pumps were installed that will push extra water supplies to Kana Tabla, Fina Sisu, San Vicente, Dandan, As Lito and the airport area.

Funded by the Commonwealth Development Authority and US Department of Interior, $1.1 million was used to redesign the southern Saipan water transmission system.

Today, the utility can pump water 24-hours a day, filling reservoirs with extra supplies and pump it to customers at the same time. Previously, the utility could pump water from the ground only 16-hours each day and then released the water to customers for the remaining eight hours.

With the continuous, slow-rate pumping, several water wells will yield a total of 1,000 gallons of water per minute. This means that the water pressure in Fina Sisu and Kana Tabla will improve and customers who live in As Lito, Dandan and San Vicente will receive water for longer periods of time — perhaps up to 24-hours a day.

As the utility increases water hours, customers should expect that more household meters will be installed and read on a monthly basis. Water meters are not used in areas with less than 24-hour water because they do not work out without a continuous feed or pressure.

According to CUC Executive Director Timothy P. Villagomez, the utility will aggressively install more meters, collect water accounts, issue citations for theft of water and to customers caught wasting water. In some cases, customers are receiving water but are not billed for it.

Utility crews are conducting audits and cracking down on what may be a series of illegal connections. Customers who receive water but who are not receiving a bill for it need to be honest and come to the utility to confirm payment arrangements. Otherwise, the customers will be billed for previous usage, often resulting in large, unexpected bills.

While the utility is thrilled to release additional water supplies, customers are encouraged to continue to catch rainwater and conserve water as much as possible.