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We do have a water crisis—but lack of federal money is not the problem
Newly released data prove what CUC customers already know: Water service on Saipan is getting worse, not better.
U.S. EPA Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld sent me the data, collected by the CNMI Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality, showing that only 73 percent of families are getting 24-hour water, down from a high of 94 percent.
This is not the result of Typhoon Soudelor. BECQ reports the drop in water service started back in 2013.
And it is not because there is a lack of federal funding, as some public officials are saying. In fact, we are getting seven times more federal water funding every year than when I came into office.
Achieving 24-hour water for Saipan is one of my top priorities. Only 60 percent of Saipan households had round-the-clock water in 2008. So I got federal funding increased from about $1 million to over $7 million per year. And 24-hour water service jumped to 94 percent within five years.
Counting the money we appropriated in Congress this December, the CNMI will have received $58 million for water improvements during my eight years in office. If ratepayers had to come up with that money, the bill would have been, on average, an additional $500 every year for every CUC customer. The federal funds I got in Congress saved us from paying another CUC surcharge.
As soon as I got the new data from Mr. Blumenfeld, I wrote to Governor Torres to learn what the issues are and what more I could do. And I met with the Governor, too.
It is not an easy problem to solve. The system is old and crumbling. One thing gets fixed, another falls apart.
But money is not the problem. And I will keep working to bring in those millions of extra dollars to keep rates down and to help the Governor get us back to where we were a few years ago: round-the-clock water for 94 percent of Saipan families—and eventually to 24-hour water for all. (Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan)
