The farmers proposed in 2007 that pump KG-20 located on the eastside of the Kagman farm be repaired so that it could pump water into the 100,000-gallon reservoir.
Kagman farm plot leasers and the Saipan Soil and Water Conservation District believed that this would address the perennial irrigation problem in Kagman after the federal watershed project was put on hold.
Three new pumps and pipes were eventually purchased and installed.
Agriculturist Isidoro T. Cabrera, who has been helping address the farmers’ concerns, said in an interview yesterday that the KG-20 pump was supposed to send water to the elevated water reservoir.
Once filled, the tank will be supplying water to more than 25 farm plots.
He said farmers consider this a long-term solution to their irrigation problem.
The water from the pump, however, barely reaches the plots on the western part of the Kagman farm.
Cabrera said two of the pumps burned down a few weeks ago due to various causes like rats that ate the wires and the improper installation of the control panel.
Now that the peak of the dry season is fast approaching, farmers in Kagman are facing the same problem they have tried to address two years ago.
Cabrera said it will not cost a lot and will not take long to fill the 100,000-gallon with reservoir.
