By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THE Guam Waterworks Authority is gearing up to help southern residents who will be experiencing a water outage this weekend.
Starting today, the Navy will be continuing its maintenance program of the Fena Reservoir.
According to GWA public information officer Heidi Ballendorf, this will require the Navy to completely empty its tanks and wells which supply water that GWA distributes to residents in the southern areas.
The work will take 36 hours and will mean that water coming from the Navy to GWA will be turned off from 8 a.m. today to Sunday midnight, Feb. 4.
Areas affected are Nimitz Hill, Towers and Estates, the upper levels of Piti, Agat, and all of Santa Rita.
“Unlike previous outages caused by Navy maintenance on Fena, this weekend will see a prolonged outage of three days,” Ballendorf said.
Because of this, GWA has already filled up its water tanks to capacity in Agat and Santa Rita so that residents do not completely lose water during the peak hours of the weekend.
Residents are also being asked to use water very wisely during that time.
“Ideally, residents should stock up on water and have a three-day supply, which is considered good practice during outages. Residents can also help out by conserving water, postponing car washes and other non-essential activities that require water,” Ballendorf said.
GWA will also be placing three water tankers in the Agat Mayor’s Office, Nimitz Hill in front of Nimitz Towers, and the Santa Rita Mayor’s Office.
On Saturday, Feb. 3, Ballendorf said a separate water outage will occur in Barrigada.
GWA will be securing lines for a contractor that must do work in the village of Barrigada.
This will take place from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. in Leyang, Barrigada, in the surrounding areas near the Guam Memorial Park. The work will affect approximately 40 homes in the area.