By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

COMMONWEALTH Utilities Corporation field workers continue to recover pebbles from wastewater pipelines they believe are coming from garment factories, according to CUC spokeswoman Pamela Mathis.
They have told garment manufacturers to clean their screens once week because the pebbles are clogging the pipelines and will burn out the pumps which, when they stop, will cause overflows of wastewater into the drainage system.
CUC also inspected restaurants in Garapan and told owners to keep their screens clear from grease which also clogs the pipelines.
On Tuesday last week, rags were removed from the motor that runs the S-10 sewer booster station underneath Beach Road. The rags, according to CUC, stopped the motor and caused the sewage overflow that started at 10 p.m.
Division of Environmental Quality environmental specialist III Marvin K. Seman arrived at the scene and was told by CUC sewer division personnel that the fabric was found stuck in the pump impeller. This caused the pump to work harder than normal and, eventually, caused it to turn itself off.
They found that raw sewage overflowing from four manholes along the stretch from the Horiguchi Building to the 13 Fishermen Memorial, flowed into the nearby drainage system and emptied out into beach park areas.
DEQ reported at least 5,000 gallons of wastewater spilled during the first overflow, and 2,000 to 5,000 gallons on the second overflow at 8 p.m., the next day.
After taking the rags out of the pumps, CUC personnel had to repair the pump and hire a firm to pump remaining sewage from the street, gullies and drainages.
Mathis said in a report that the rags recovered from the pump did not appear to be from a factory. She said it appears that the rags came from residents in Garapan area.
Mathis wants to inform the public that whatever is flushed down toilets or dumped in manholes can plug the pumps.