(CUC) — At the request of a contractor, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has scheduled a water outage this Saturday in connection with the construction of temporary water tanks at Northern Marianas College.
The CNMI Water Task Force hired the Tano Group to install temporary water tanks in Fina Sisu after learning that the existing 1 million gallon water reservoir at NMC is structurally unsound.
Once completed, the temporary tanks will be used to store and supply water to Fina Sisu, Chalan Laulau, El Turo, and southern Garapan until a new and permanent reservoir is built at Kanat Tabla in the coming year.
On Saturday, Feb. 11, the contractor will build a pipeline connection from the new temporary tanks into the existing CUC water system.
This construction requires that the water be shut off, resulting in a water outage Saturday for El Turo, Chalan Laulau, southern Garapan through Chalan Pale Arnold (Middle Road) at the old Japanese jail and along Beach Road to the Naked Fish Restaurant.
Residents in Fina Sisu will receive water Saturday morning from 5 to 8 a.m., but will not get water during the normal afternoon release time, from 4 to 8 p.m.
Once the contractor connects the new tanks to the CUC system Saturday, they will disinfect the new tanks and prepare for the final certification process before the system is turned over to the utility.
Residents are advised that once the system is turned over to CUC there will be water interruptions and new water hours will be assigned when the temporary system is ready for operation.
Customers are encouraged to conserve water at all times. During this process, customers should ensure that their residential cisterns/rain catchment tanks are cleaned and filled while adjustments are made in the delivery of water services.