By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

SENATOR Jesse A. Lujan, R-Tamuning, said yesterday he will fight any lobby attempt by the Guam Waterworks Authority to press for the repeal of an amendment that would clip the water agency’s power to enforce regulations that have not been legally adopted.
Lujan said GWA’s John Benavente is lobbying for votes to overturn the amendment to Bill 74, the revised budget measure, which the senator said prompted the water agency to recall its policy requiring customers to install shutoff valves.
“My amendment does indeed restate current law. It publicly reminds GWA officials to adjudicate its regulations prior to enforcing them. It also reminded public officials that legal redress is available to aggrieved ratepayers,” Lujan stated in a letter to Benavente.
Lujan said he directed his amendment at the utility agency because “GWA is acting like a water baron. This isn’t the Wild West where government officials can make up the rules as they go along and cut off water service on questionable authority.”
“When GWA enforces costly requirements on its captive customers absent explicit statutory authority or fully promulgated regulations, restating the law provides a valuable public service. It puts everyone on notice that GWA’s arbitrary behavior must be stopped by us, the public,” Lujan said.
Taking the heat from public outcry, GWA this week recalled its shutoff valve requirement and assured the public that the agency would not disconnect water service to customers who don’t have the equipment in place.
Benavente, just the same, maintains the importance of requiring customers to install shutoff valve as it would help control the flow of water in and out of the house. He said GWA doesn’t have employees who can monitor regulated water use.
“Then find people who can do this job,” Lujan said.