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Zero power outages on Tinian
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Posted on Aug 30 2019
Tinian now has zero power outages as the island has enough electric power, having an available capacity of 20MW, but with a peak demand of just 2MW, according to Commonwealth Utilities Corp. Tinian resident director Evelyn Manglona.
In her report to the CUC board during a meeting last Monday, Manglona assured that CUC Tinian has no problem with both its power and water supply.
In a later interview, Manglona said that everyone on Tinian got back their power supply either in March and April.
For power, the island has 689 residential customers, 123 commercial customers, and 97 government accounts, for a total of 909 clients.
About the island’s water supply, Manglona said CUC Tinian produced 28.5 million gallons from their Maui Well 2 in July.
The island has 657 residential water customers, 71 commercial water customers, and 38 government accounts, for a total of 766 water customers.
Manglona said that CUC Tinian’s water customers got their water supply back much earlier—last November and December.
Super Typhoon Yutu devastated Tinian and Saipan last Oct. 24 and 25.
Manglona said their non-revenue water loss is at 70% last July and CUC Tinian is working with CUC Saipan to look into why the island has such a high water loss. At the moment, CUC Tinian is not sure why and Manglona said she has no information as to the previous water loss percentage.
At the meeting, CUC deputy executive director William Gilmore said that CUC changed some of the water pumps on Tinian, which is why he thought the water loss there is only at 40%.
CUC executive director Gary P. Camacho said that part of the challenge with non-revenue water loss is that there is a lot of water lines that’s not even on CUC records and it’s not only about fixing the existing infrastructure but also identifying everything that isn’t on the map.
“They’re findings valves that they never knew existed,” Camacho said.
He said that’s why they keep finding new valves and new pipes that they never knew existed.
“In fact, down here by Guangdong [on Saipan], a year and half ago when I was there, they showed me a pipe that they never knew existed,” Camacho said.
