HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Frustrations are mounting over the ongoing lack of water service for many residents following Typhoon Mawar.
“There is a lot of concern about the water at this point. I think there are many residents that are still out of water. We have no clear answer from (the Guam Waterworks Authority) as to when those residents are going to get a water tank in their village. The mayors have been asking since yesterday for a water tank, but we’re not getting any straight answers as to where these water tanks are,” Jesse Alig, the Piti Mayor and president of the Mayors’ Council of Guam, told The Guam Daily Post.
The Joint Information Center stated just before 10 a.m. Friday morning that GWA is working with village mayors to assess areas with no water services, and that coordination was being made to deploy water bladders to villages in need.
At that time, water bladders were being distributed to critical care facilities.
But as of Friday afternoon, a frustrated Alig stated that water tanks, or bladders as stated by JIC, were still not getting out to villages.
“In a brief with a GWA representative and the governor that I had yesterday early afternoon, the tanks were available. And at 2 p.m., if they were available, we’re looking at 2 p.m. today, and we’re still not getting water tanks to the villages,” Alig said.
“Might as well call a spade a spade. GWA failed, quite honestly. Pre-storm, they said they were ready. Post-storm, they’re far from ready. Our residents are without water. Without power is no problem, but to be without water? And GWA said they were prepared. They’re not prepared,” Alig added.
He stated that Piti was “lucky” because the village had some water service, but “a lot” of the mayors were concerned as residents came to them with complaints.
“We have water in the office that some (residents) may get water from, or they can get water at the fire station,” Alig said.
Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann, the vice president of the MCOG, said mayors are trying to get agencies to be more responsive with updates on power and water services.
“I wish they put out more information on where they were at, what they’ve completed so far. That was my ask this morning. That’s my frustration this morning,” Hofmann said.
Water restoration dependent on power
The Guam Daily Post reached out to GWA General Manager Miguel Bordallo to get an update on when water services might be restored for all residents, or where water tanks will be located.
Bordallo stated that “GWA is doing all that it can to bring all production facilities back online, but we are currently producing water out of 45% of our wells. Short term, we are hoping to add another 15% of wells with (generator set) or power system repair issues. There are another 13% to 18% that will come online as (the Guam Power Authority) restores the island power system, but I don’t have an estimate of when that will happen,” Bordallo stated.
And even with wells back at near normal production, residents won’t see full restoration until reservoir levels are restored, he added.
“This will take some time. Recovering levels in a single reservoir after a main break, for example, could take days. Our best chance to improve recovery times is for those customers who do have water to conserve water and use only what you need,” Bordallo said.
GPA update
In an update provided by GPA, the power utility said that had begun its post-typhoon power restoration process, staring with critical and priority facilities. GPA’s Typhoon Mawar recovery summary as of 1:00 pm, Friday, reports customer demand restored at 3.8%; GPA substation energization restored at 41.4%; and GPA feeders/circuits energized/restored at 15.9%.
According to GPA, no feeders/circuits can be energized unless GPA substations are energized. System load (customer demand) percentages increase as GPA feeders/circuits percentages increase.
“Might as well call a spade a spade. GWA failed, quite honestly. Pre-storm, they said they were ready. Post-storm, they’re far from ready. Our residents are without water. Without power is no problem, but to be without water? And GWA said they were prepared. They’re not prepared,” Alig added.
A Guam Waterworks Authority worker attempts to repair a broken water line along Rte. 2 on April 12 in Humåtak.
