CUC Executive Director Kevin Watson
CUC renewable energy engineer Yvonne Ogumuro
THE Commonwealth Utilities Corporation’s goal is to reduce non-revenue water by 50%, CUC’s new executive director, Kevin Watson, told the Saipan Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.
“When I started, we had about 75% non-revenue water — that’s a tremendous loss of water,” Watson added.
“We have been successful in reducing that to 60% now and we see a slow steady trend downward. Our immediate goal is to get below 50% in the next 12 months. We will do that by making operational changes, such as manually checking our tanks, and also implementing the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management Strategy,” he said.
SWIMS can “identify, track and eliminate water loss in the water distribution system and … provide an independently validated baseline for current water loss performance,” Watson said.
In a status report submitted to the District Court for the NMI regarding CUC’s non-revenue water, Senior Attorney Elizabeth Loeb of the U.S. Department of Justice-Environmental Enforcement Section stated that “costs associated with the lost water are passed on to paying customers. The reasons for this loss include leaks, water theft, and failed water meters.”
Watson said CUC also aims to “achieve and maintain water quality with the maximum contaminant level for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS below four parts per thousand; develop advanced water treatment for PFAS; develop and implement ocean desalination water treatment; implement the fats/oils/grease program; implement the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system; complete a ground water management study; and find an alternative water source and treatment.
For her part, CUC renewable energy engineer Yvonne Ogumoro provided updates on power generation, power transmission and distribution.
According to the utility, it provides service to about 16,000 electrical customers, 10,000 water customers, and 4,000 wastewater customers on Saipan.
Asked whether CUC is considering portable nuclear reactors for power source generation, Watson said, “Not at this time.”
