Sadog Tasi Wastewater Treatment Plan operators pose for a photo with Federal Judge David O. Carter, acting Gov. David M. Apatang and officials of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The new Sadog Tasi Wastewater Treatment Plant clarifier.
Federal Judge David O. Carter with acting Gov. David M. Apatang.
Federal Judge David O. Carter joins other officials at the Sadog Tasi Wastewater Treatment Plant, which held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new clarifier.
THE Commonwealth Utilities Corporation held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the replacement of the Sadog Tasi Wastewater Treatment Plant clarifier on Wednesday.
Among the officials who attended the event were Federal Judge David O. Carter, acting Gov. David M. Apatang, U.S. Department of Justice-Environmental Enforcement Section Senior Attorney Elizabeth Loeb, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Enforcement Officer John Tinger, EPA Regional Counsel Janet Magnuson, EPA Project Manager Russell Mechem, CUC Acting Executive Director Betty Terlaje and CUC Deputy Executive Director for Water/Wastewater Kevin Watson.
Noting that the Sadog Tasi treatment plant’s clarifier had been broken since 2018, Watson, in his remarks, thanked CUC engineers and operators for their hard work in keeping the treatment plant operational.
“Operators had invented and created a makeshift type of clarifier out of PVC piping that would help scrape, plow and pump system to remove sludge,” he said. “They had to manually pull across the tank, which I know is very labor intensive.”
Watson said the current BOD removal is at “98%,” referring to Biochemical Oxygen Demand.
“That is remarkable,” he added, “Throughout the United States, plants don’t normally achieve that…. It’s a remarkable achievement for the operators and the team to achieve this kind of process.”
Apatang said “it is always satisfying to see a project like this, finally get done and activated to serve its purpose.”
“To those involved in the design and construction of this critical infrastructure — thank you for your efforts and supervision to get the work done,” he added.
“To the wastewater treatment staff who keep this facility going 24/7, Gov. Arnold Palacios and I thank you for your commitment,” Apatang said.
In her remarks, Terlaje thanked and recognized the treatment plant operators while noting their resourcefulness.
“When we live on a small island we try to make do on supplies we have, and duct tape has been a good friend for temporary solutions. If it works, we implement it in the meantime because we live far out, a dot on the map, and we have so much water around us, and it is difficult to get what we need right away. We use what we normally use at home to fix our emergencies…and this is a huge treatment plant, but we still managed to come up with the solution. I think the hardest part…was having to go down to the bottom of the plant,” Terlaje said.
For his part, Judge Carter told the treatment plant operators, “Our job is to keep our consumers healthy…to keep the water clean. This clarifier is also hopefully going to keep you a lot safer…because you are the most important product we have. I just wanted to humbly thank for who you are, because you created a miracle….”
