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EPA: CUC still in violation over Agingan Point outfall
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Posted on Nov 18 2005
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. continues to be in violation of environmental regulations over the discharge of effluent into the Saipan Lagoon from the Agingan Point Wastewater Treatment Plant.
John McCarroll, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Pacific Islands Office manager, said the agency has made no new schedule to adjust the deadline for CUC to comply with regulations by constructing an ocean outfall.
“We’re not giving the [CUC] another deadline,” McCarroll said.
But the EPA said that CUC now has the money to begin the construction of an outfall that will discharge treated wastewater several meters away from the Agingan Point cliffline.
Mike Lee, a wastewater expert from the EPA’s Region 9 office, said that CUC would be hiring a company that would construct the outfall. Earlier estimates placed the cost of the construction at $5 million.
For several years now, the facility has been discharging effluent into the sea by the Agingan Point cliffline.
A special report by the Saipan Tribune over four years ago revealed the wastewater facility’s dismal efficiency in treating sewage, discharging pollutants to the lagoon. At that time, the facility’s clarifier—a mechanical part that purifies wastewater—was damaged. The CUC managed to repair the clarifier eventually.
