By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
SAIPAN resident Chea’Lee Erb is calling for greater transparency and urgent action from the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation after uncovering what she describes as seven years of inconsistent reporting on PFAS contamination in Saipan’s drinking water.
Erb, who moved to Saipan three years ago with her husband, a wetlands biologist for the Division of Fish and Wildlife, said she began reviewing CUC’s Consumer Confidence Reports earlier this month. She immediately noticed that the 2024 report listed PFOS at 82 parts per trillion — above the CNMI’s legal limit of 70 ppt. That discovery prompted her to examine earlier reports, where she found a pattern of missing data, shifting classifications, and unexplained gaps in PFAS disclosures.
PFAS — or per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are synthetic chemicals widely known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment and can accumulate in groundwater, soil, food, and the human body. One of the most common compounds, PFOS, was heavily used in firefighting foam at airports and military sites and is the primary source of Saipan’s groundwater contamination. Studies have linked long-term PFAS exposure to increased risks of certain cancers, thyroid disruption, immune system effects, high cholesterol, and pregnancy complications. Because Saipan relies almost entirely on its aquifer, PFAS contamination is difficult and costly to remove, which is why regulatory limits — 70 ppt under CNMI law and 4 ppt under the new federal EPA standard — are considered critical public-health safeguards.
Missing data
According to Erb’s review, PFAS monitoring appears in CUC’s public reports in 2017 and 2018, then disappears in 2019. In 2020, PFOS was publicly reported at 55 ppt, prompting CUC to shut down 10 wells and warn residents in Chalan Kiya, Chalan Laulau, Iliyang, As Terlaje, Kannat Tabla, Fina Sisu, San Jose, and parts of southern Garapan, Gualo Rai, Susupe, As Lito, and As Perdido not to drink tap water.
PFAS data then vanishes again from the 2021 and 2022 reports. When it reappears in 2023, it is reclassified as “unregulated monitoring,” a category that cannot trigger violations. The first official violation is not declared until 2024, when PFOS reaches 82 ppt and combined PFOS and PFOA reach 104 ppt — 26 times the new federal limit of 4 ppt, Erb noted.
“Seeing the data side by side tells a very different story than reading any single year’s report,” she said. “That’s why I compiled everything and shared it publicly.”
Other contaminants
Erb also found increases in other contaminants. Arsenic rose from 1.6 parts per billion or ppb in 2019 to 9.6 ppb in 2022 — 96% of the legal limit — while selenium increased from 7.8 ppb to 49 ppb, or 98% of the limit.
She said the pattern extends beyond drinking water. “Beyond PFAS, I found that arsenic went from 1.6 parts per billion to 9.6 — nearly the legal limit — in one testing cycle. Nobody has ever tested locally caught fish for PFAS specifically, despite a confirmed contamination pathway from the airport aquifer to the reef. BECQ’s own 2022 surface water assessment found 88% of Saipan’s coastal shoreline impaired but didn’t assess PFAS at all, even though it lists fish consumption as a designated use. These are all findings from government documents. I just organized them.”
Concerns beyond tap water
Erb also pointed to broader exposure risks. At a May 2025 public seminar, BECQ Safe Drinking Water Program Manager Travis Spaeth acknowledged that PFAS contamination may be bioaccumulating in local fruits, vegetables, fish, and livestock. No PFAS testing has ever been conducted on the CNMI food supply.
“People who farm, fish, or raise animals are making decisions with zero information,” Erb said. “That’s a huge portion of our community.”
Economic impact on households
Erb said the issue is not only environmental and regulatory, but financial. Residents are effectively paying twice for the same water.
Households pay CUC for tap water — plus a $3.72 per 1,000 gallons Water Electric Charge — only to purchase drinking water from private companies. Saipan Ice Water confirmed it sources water from the same CUC wells before filtering it through charcoal and reverse osmosis.
“So residents are paying CUC for water they cannot drink, and then paying again for that same water after someone else filters it,” Erb said. “For a community with a low median income, that’s a major cost that has never been acknowledged publicly.”
Questions for CUC
At the CUC board meeting held on March 12, Erb spoke during the public comment period, asking board members directly about remediation plans and whether CUC intends to pursue legal action against companies responsible for PFAS contamination linked to firefighting foam used at the airport.
“If they’re not pursuing accountability from the companies responsible, then why is the cost of remediation being placed on ratepayers?” she asked.
Erb said she did not begin her research expecting to find systemic issues. “Like most residents, I had heard concerns about water quality but didn’t understand the scope,” she said. “Once I saw the pattern across the reports, I felt a responsibility to share it so people could make informed decisions.”
She has since shared her findings and compiled the data on social media.
Variety was unable to get a comment from CUC.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
