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Water Task Force gets $986,107 funding
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Posted on May 10 2005
The Water Task Force announced that the Office of Insular Affairs has approved their request for $986,107, which will be used in ongoing water service improvement projects in the CNMI.
The funding was made available by a special appropriation for Fiscal Year 2005 by the U.S. Congress through Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio.
Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente said majority of the funds will be used for leak detection and repair. The rest will be set aside for the development of the Obyan well field.
“The Obyan well field will put half a million gallons of additional fresh water a day into the water system,” said Benavente.
According to the task force, the Obyan well field is scheduled to be on line in September this year.
Faride Komisar of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs informed CNMI Capital Improvement Projects administrator Virginia Villagomez of the budget approval in a letter dated May 3, 2005.
Komisar said he received the request on May 2, 2005.
“Please accept this [letter] as the Office of Insular Affairs’ formal approval of the [request]. I look forward to continuing to work with you and your staff…,” said Komisar.
A copy of the approval letter was also forwarded to Keith Aughenbaugh, Insular Affairs’ CNMI field representative who informed the task force about it.
Last month, the task force announced it had obtained $6.48 million budget approval for FY 2005 from the Office of Insular Affairs that will also be used primarily for water service improvement projects in the CNMI.
Benavente said $4.125 million of the amount will be used in several water conservation projects that include meter installation, leak detection and repair of water lines, and survey of existing water laterals.
Approximately $2.054 million of the total amount will go to well field development projects, and $300,000 will be used for well field isolation projects where wells will be piped into a water tank before distribution to ensure better maintenance of the water pumps.
The task force received budget approval for the $6.48 million on April 23, 2005 from the Department of the Interior.
