Family wants sewer treatment plant closed

A Puerto Rico resident wants the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to shut down its sewer treatment plant in the area, saying he and his family have been suffering from the “unbearable smell” for more than 10 years now.

Antonio Cabrera, 47, told Saipan Tribune yesterday that CUC should relocate the sewer treatment plant because it poses a health hazard to residents in the area, particularly those who live only a few meters away from the plant.

“I’m concerned about my kids’ health,” said the 47-year-old father of eight children. His oldest is 15 years old, while the youngest is only 1.

Their house is located on Puerto Rico Drive, so when the wind changes direction, the smell is just “too unbearable,” he said.

“It’s just like you have a migraine. I’ve been suffering this for many, many years now,” said Cabrera, who used to work as maintenance personnel for the Department of Public Works.

When contacted by Saipan Tribune for comments yesterday, CUC acting spokesman Gary Camacho said the issue will be brought to the attention of CUC executive director Antonio Muña.

Cabrera said he can’t afford to move to another village because the property is his deceased parents’ place and that he has no financial means to transfer.

Cabrera is handicapped due to a disability in his back. He and his jobless wife have been relying on food stamps and his monthly Supplemental Security Income pension to survive.

He said he is very disappointed with the government and CUC because they breached the long-time agreement they had with his parents.

Cabrera said when his parents were still alive they strongly protested the construction of the sewer treatment plant in the area.

He recalled that when former governor Froilan Tenorio was then a CUC director, the latter came up with an agreement with his (Cabrera) parents where they would get free electricity and have their house’s windows sealed.

Cabrera said about four years ago, at a time when his parents have already passed away, CUC stopped providing them free power. He said he went to CUC and raised the agreement that his parents had signed. Cabrera said a CUC lawyer informed him that the policy had changed under the new administration. Since then, Cabrera said, he was forced to pay for power.

He said he and his family are willing to sacrifice and remain in the place as long as CUC will give them free power and seal their house’s windows pursuant to the agreement.

“This is my only place,” he added.

The Saipan Tribune first ran a story about this issue on August 2, 2001. At that time, then CUC acting executive director Patrick Guerrero said that CUC had run out of the “aroma neutralizer,” which they usually use to counteract the smell from the sewage tanks.

The powder is usually sprinkled on the surface of the sewage water daily.