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Puerto Rico tank back online
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s new water tank in Puerto Rico was online for only two days last week after a flushing exercise left it short of water.
CUC staff was looking to get it back online yesterday morning. As of press time yesterday, it was being brought back online, according to CUC acting executive director John Riegel.
The water tank in Puerto Rico, one of several water tanks across the island that the CNMI Water Task Force and CUC have aimed to replace, came online last week Tuesday.
“It was a little more than we needed to be, so we lost a little height in the tank, so we took it off line to recover the water that was used during the flushing exercise… It is being filled now,” Riegel said.
The 1 million-gallon water tank fills as high as 43 feet. It is about 46 feet tall.
The tank provides water service to customers in Puerto Rico, Sadog Tasi, Lower Base, and portions of Garapan. The tank came online after a $2- million project funded through federal grants was finished last Tuesday.
According to Riegel, the Puerto Rico tank was one of the worst condition tanks first identified across the island.
“The center column was gone, the roof rafters gone and the roof was just hanging,” he said.
According to Riegel, other tanks they are looking to replace are the Papago, Gualo Rai, San Vicente, and “NMC” water tanks.
The NMC tank is going through design right now, Riegel said.
