A draft plan to integrate Guam’s civilian water system with the military water system is in its final stages, according to Speaker Judith Won Pat.
Won Pat and Senator Tom Ada, legislative chairman of the infrastructure committee, have been communicating with the water integration team that includes representatives from the Guam Waterworks Authority and the military.
As of July 22, the draft document is being reviewed by the Guam Waterworks Authority, Won Pat said. Stakeholders expect GWA and the Consolidated Commission on Utilities to provide feedback on the draft plan.
“Once (the interim general manager) and the CCU has provided feedback on the draft document, the team will work to finalize the framework. They’re hoping to do that. Actually, it was supposed to be this week,” Won Pat said.
That framework would be taking a “One Guam” approach and integrating water systems into one system to serve all civilian and military customers, Won Pat said.
“We’ll do all this up to the point where yes, we may be ready to integrate but ultimately it would have to go to Congress,” the speaker added.
At this point, there are no discussions about how much it would cost to integrate water systems as talks are currently centered on the technical aspects of integration, Won Pat said.
CCU Chairman Joey Duenas said the government of Guam and the military are seeking to preserve aquifers while also efficiently providing better service to water customers.
“We’re looking at areas where we can work together,” Duenas said, adding that stakeholders are taking “baby steps.”
“We’re looking to get to a ‘One Guam’ system in the next five years, maybe longer, maybe shorter,” Duenas added. “The big picture is there are some things we can do right away. We may not be fully on a One Guam system in five years, but we’re getting to the point where we’ll be almost there or we’re going to be there very shortly.”
One example of something that can be done right away involves wells in northern Guam.
Duenas said GWA interim General Manager Mark Miller is working on letting GWA use four of the military’s water wells that are close to four of GWA’s water wells to reduce the stress on the aquifer.
Duenas said if there’s too much drilling in one area of the aquifer, there’s a potential to stress the aquifer.
The U.S. Navy controls the Fena Resovoir and GWA buys water from the Navy to serve civilian customers in the southern villages of Agat and Santa Rita. The rest of GWA’s water comes from the northern aquifer.
At the start of fiscal 2015, the U.S. Navy’s water rate increased from $5.41 per thousand gallons to $7.59 per thousand gallons in order to pay for system upgrades and to recoup costs the Navy incurred between fiscal years 2007 and 2014, according to a February 2015 letter from Joint Region Marianas Regional Engineer, Capt. Glenn Shephard.