Reverse Osmosis Facility = High Maintenance Costs?

Some say Saipan does not need reverse osmosis but needs to fix the leaking and old pipes instead. 

There is no need for a reverse-osmosis facility on Saipan, according to Commonwealth Utilities Corp. board member David J. Sablan Jr., contradicting the position of most of the other board members.

“If you don’t watch out, you could run into heavy maintenance costs, and because we don’t have the proper expertise that would be a big problem,” he told Variety.

He said CUC has better options and these include fixing leaking pipes and defective water meters as well as going after water theft. “We should have monitoring equipment to prevent theft. And if there are some stealing water we should bring them to justice,” he added.

In May, several CUC board members met with a potential contractor with ties to the lt. governor regarding a reverse-osmosis water treatment project for the CNMI.

Thereafter, CUC board members urged lawmakers to support the reverse-osmosis project with a price tag of $160 million, saying it was the “solution” to Saipan’s water problems.

Sablan disagrees. He said it is also unfortunate that the board is “going after” some of the technicians and other experts at CUC for refusing to do the board’s bidding. “This is not the way to develop a relationship with professionals in the organization, especially if you don’t even know anything about water or electricity,” he said.

Asked about the recent CUC report that non-revenue water has dropped from 70 percent to 63 percent due to an “aggressive campaign” to fix water leaks, Sablan said he is in full support of the program. CUC, he added, can also get funding assistance to further improve its water system.

“We know we can certainly make a case if we need to go to the bond market to finance any kind of project related to water, but we have to show first our financial capability, and this is one area that I want the board to address. But it seems we don’t want to discuss the financial posture of CUC because we are nearly bankrupt and we are almost running out of cash. It seems that the board is more concerned with how things are being done instead of allowing management and staff to decide how to do their jobs.” 

Source: Marianas Variety

Media

Taxonomy

• Reverse Osmosis
• Pipeline Rehabilitation
• Pipelines

2 Comments

1. We operate in many island communities with regards to water reuse and recycling.  This must always be the first option as opposed to membrane desalination.  There are also other issue regarding disease, priority chemicals and climate change that should be considered.

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2. If you are on the verge of being bankrupt then the lost revenue associated with leaks, malfunctioning meters and water theft should be addressed  first.  By addressing the lost revenue and making the system more viable,  the system would obtain a higher rating and get better favor with the bond market especially with the interest rates.