DPH, DEQ examine student safety as school nears

Gov. Benigno Fitial yesterday requested several departments to examine the health effects and preparedness of the Public School System to deal with the power outages as the beginning of the school years nears.

Representatives from the Division of Environmental Quality, Department of Public Health, and the Bureau of Environmental Health discussed the opening with PSS Commissioner Rita Sablan present, said Joseph Kevin Villagomez, Secretary of Public Health.

“In particular, we are to look at whether the schools will be able to have running water during periods of power outages,” Villagomez said. “Running water, especially to the toilets, are critical to maintain public health.”

Two weeks ago, Fitial asked PSS Board of Education chair Lucy Blanco-Maratita to consider pushing back the start of school until power was stabilized, but the board voted last week to begin school as scheduled on Monday.

Charles Reyes Jr., press secretary for the Governor’s Office, said Fitial requested yesterday’s meeting to ensure schools would be able to comply with health regulations until Sept. 16, when the Aggreko generators are expected to be operational.

DEQ will be testing water at the various schools today and will have results ready by tomorrow, Villagomez said. DPH will work to make sure each of the schools has a generator to power water through the pumps, he added.

Reyes said Sablan, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, discussed various strategies PSS administrators have formulated to cope with the outages.

DEQ will focus on testing water at the public schools and will eventually test private schools. Many private schools on island started several weeks ago.

The island has regularly been operating on 19 to 24 megawatts of power for the last few weeks, forcing many areas to go without power for as much as eight hours at a time. Approximately 41 megawatts are needed to sufficiently power the island. The Aggreko generators should provide an additional 15 to 18 megawatts.

Besides Villagomez and Sablan, other attendees at the meeting were: Frank Rabauliman, DEQ director; Joe Kaipat, DEQ Water Manager; Lynn Tenorio, deputy Secretary for Public Health Administration; Richard Brostrom, Public Health medical director; Alex Gorman, DPH legal counsel; and John Tagabuel, Bureau of Environmental Health manager.