CUC: Water wells drying up due to La Niña

The CNMI is now experiencing a very, very severe dry season because of the effects of the global weather phenomenon called La Niña, Commonwealth Utilities Corp. spokesperson Pamela Mathis warned yesterday.

“The water wells are already drying up and not at the levels we get normally. So the plea to conserve water is just as great as a plea to conserve power,” said Mathis in an interview with Saipan Tribune.

Mathis said she received Friday a bulletin about the effects of La Niña from the Pacific El Niño-Southern Oscillation Applications Center.

La Niña is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced in February this year the return of La Niña.

Mathis said the Center is warning that dry conditions are anticipated to continue throughout much of the Micronesian region in the northernmost locations that were dry in the first quarter of the year.

“So the forecast is, first, we had the first quarter that was dry and now we’re going in to the dry season. So we’re getting double the effect,” Mathis said.

The immediate effects right now on the water wells, she said, are reservoirs that are not full.

“Everyday we have fewer gallons than we had the day before. This month we have fewer gallons that we did last month,” she said.

The CUC spokesperson said the La Niña during the first quarter resulted in less rainfall, “which means less water underground, which means less water we can pump.”

“Then you couple that with the dry season which is last May and the bottom line is it’s a very, very severe dry season, worse than normal. Much worse than normal because you have La Niña first. So the water wells are already drying up and not at the levels normally,” Mathis said.

“Instead of getting three months of wet, rainy weather we started to dry up early. That’s the effect of La Niña. Instead of having a wet spring, you have a dry season. And then what you have after that is your regular dry season. So now we’re going to have a regular dry season and the wells are already dry because we had a dry spring or first quarter,” she said.

PEAC reported that CNMI and Guam started off wet in January and February then were very dry in March and April.

According to PEAC, the first quarter rainfall totals were less than 80 percent of normal at some locations within the CNMI, Guam, Chuuk State, the Northern RMI, and Yap State.