By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THE Navy is urging residents to adopt strict water conservation measures as it schedules a 28-hour production shutdown of its Fena water treatment plant this weekend.
The shutdown of the water treatment plant commences 7 a.m. on Saturday, May 12.
According to the Navy’s public affairs office, the shutdown may decrease the amount of water supplied to the Guam Waterworks Authority and will affect the villages of Agat, Piti, and Santa Rita.
Navy housing residents living in North Tipalao and Lockwood may also be affected by the plant being offline.
But the Navy did say that all other supported customers would continue to get water from treated water reservoirs and will not be affected by the production shutdown.
The Navy and its contractors have been working hard to minimize the impact and number of required outages caused by the plant shutdown.
Previous shutdowns have resulted in minimal effects on residents because of these efforts.
But because of the work required for this outage and the systems being worked on, the Navy warned that some villages may be adversely affected.
However, the Navy said water from the Navy’s treated water reservoirs will continue to provide support to Guam’s electrical plants at Cabras, Piti and Tanguisson, the firefighting systems, and the Naval Hospital.
To better manage the outage, the Navy will be requiring its own housing residents to adhere to strict water conservation measures throughout the weekend.
Because of the already low level of rainfall this year, the Navy said it has elevated water conservation measures for all Navy activities and housing residents.
Earlier, GWA also warned that other parts of the island may be affected by the Fena plant shutdown as it diverts water from other places to supply the affected southern villages.
GWA said it would be wise for other villages not necessarily affected by the Fena plant shutdown to also conserve water so that water pressure in all parts of the island can be maintained.
The Navy said it has been working closely with GWA and village mayors during the renovations to minimize negative impacts and to ensure that residents are fully notified and prepared of upcoming water outages.