ATTORNEY Elizabeth Loeb of the U.S. Department of Justice-Environmental Enforcement Section is seeking the federal court’s guidance on how to expedite the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s compliance with some requirements of Stipulated Order 1, including the vacancies in critical positions.
“While there was significant progress in complying with SO1 and the [Clean Water Act] and [Safe Water Drinking Act] requirements, CUC’s compliance remains deficient in several areas,” she said, adding that “CUC’s delinquency in complying with some SO1 requirements exceeds a decade.”
In Nov. 2008, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited CUC for violating the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, the federal court issued Stipulated Orders 1 and 2.
SO1 focuses on drinking water issues while SO2 focuses on oil issues.
In a status report filed in federal court on Feb. 20, Loeb said court intervention may be required to address CUC’s “management structure compliance issue.”
She said CUC “historically sustains lengthy vacancies in management positions thereby impeding CUC’s operations and compliance with the stipulated orders.”
“While this situation improved during 2022, CUC still has vacancies in two of the required eight management positions. The Chief Engineer position, a critical position for the utility, has been vacant for three years, since February 24, 2020. The Wastewater Treatment Plant Supervisor position has been vacant for four years, since January 13, 2019, but was finally filled February 6, 2023,” she said.
In the spring of 2022, Loeb said, CUC hired a deputy director and technical manager for oil or TMO, “both of whom have made great progress in developing local capacity and implementing critical tasks to facilitate compliance with SO1 and SO2 and the CWA and SDWA.”
“Unfortunately,” she added, “the TMO will be leaving CUC in the near future. A qualified TMO, with ongoing active involvement, is critical for CUC’s oil management and compliance program and for ensuring proper operation and maintenance on the infrastructure constructed under SO2,” she reiterated.
The TMO position must be refilled as soon as possible, Loeb added.
“CUC’s accomplishments in 2022 with respect to both SO1 and SO2 endeavors are undoubtedly due to having a well-qualified Deputy Director and TMO in place.
“It thus is critical that CUC hire and retain persons who meet the qualifications and fill all vacancies in a timely manner,” she said.
Designated Judge David O. Carter has scheduled a series of status conference hearings from Feb. 27 to March 3 in the District Court for the NMI.
Other deficiencies
Loeb also mentioned CUC’s other deficiencies.
CUC, she said, does not adequately identify, track and repair broken equipment in both its wastewater treatment and drinking water systems.
“A significant amount of critical equipment is often inoperable and in various states of repair for months, and in many cases, for years. This includes lift station pumps and generators, vehicles, leaking water lines and water meters,” she said.
“CUC lacks adequate procedures and measures to identify equipment needing repair. For example, Stipulated Order 1 requires an [Environmental Protection Agency] approved plan and schedule to perform detection and repair of leaks in the drinking water distribution system, and to identify and eliminate subsurface connections to old drinking water lines or pipes that may negatively impact the quality of water in the distribution system,” Loeb said.
She said in 2014, EPA disapproved CUC’s proposed leak detection and repair program and no further progress has been made since then.
“Additionally, the status of broken equipment is not formally tracked, and repair efforts are often delayed by inefficient and lengthy procurement procedures,” she said.
She added that CUC has not provided an update for procurement procedures as required by SO1.
In addition, CUC “acutely lacks procedures and equipment necessary to maintain equipment and prevent failures and breakdowns.”
Loeb said “CUC is not performing adequate preventative maintenance on critical collections system equipment including lift station pumps, wet wells, valves and generators. Many lift stations do not have back-up pumps which are necessary to perform preventative maintenance. The lack of an effective pretreatment program to address fats, oils and grease causes system blockages and failures. CUC did not adequately correct deficiencies in the drinking water system identified by the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality, which resulted in a Notice of Violation on May 19, 2021, to correct significant deficiencies. After CUC’s continued failure to install a computer-based preventative maintenance management program as required by SO1, EPA has funded a private contractor to perform the analysis required for the maintenance management program. The evaluation is currently ongoing. Additionally, CUC does not adequately update and implement its SOPs.”
Inadequate billing
Loeb said CUC continues to report that it is not billing customers adequately to cover the costs of service.
“CUC states that non-revenue water is approximately 63 percent, meaning only 37 percent of drinking water produced, pumped, and chlorinated by CUC is being billed to customers and generating revenue. CUC reported it is losing approximately 200 million gallons per month of produced water. The costs associated with the lost water is passed on to paying customers. The reasons for this loss include leaks, water theft, and failed water meters. CUC failed to improve upon reducing non-revenue water volumes,” Loeb said.
She added that EPA is also concerned that CUC is not maintaining 24-hour drinking water service.
Loeb said prior to SO1, only 26% of the Saipan population experienced continuous 24-hour drinking water.
“Within five years of the entry of SO1 and with improvements funded substantially by EPA, the availability of 24-hour Saipan drinking water reached 94 percent in 2013, then fell to 73 percent in 2014 and 2015, increasing to 81 percent in 2016 through spring of 2018,” she said.
In January 2020, she said CUC informed EPA that approximately 96% of Saipan benefited from 24-hour drinking water. “However, EPA has growing concerns that 24-hour water is not being maintained in CUC service areas based on CUC’s public notices of emergency water service interruptions,” Loeb said.
EPA is requesting that CUC provides current information on the availability of 24-hour drinking water at the next status hearing, she added.
