GWA looking to build additional facilities before military buildup

GWA looking to build additional facilities before military buildup

By Laura Matthews • Pacific Daily News • November 19, 2009

If Guam's water and wastewater facilities are going to be ready for the military buildup, everything must be done by 2013, according to a Guam Waterworks Authority official.

Brett Railey, engineering supervisor for the water agency, said the thousands of contractors and additional workers who will arrive on island before the military personnel will have to connect to GWA's systems, which will require additional water services.

"There will be incidental growth happening on Guam driven by the military buildup, so we will need additional source water to accommodate all those customers," Railey said at Tuesday's Consolidated Commission on Utilities meeting.

Currently, there are 120 GWA wells on island and about 38 million gallons of water is pumped each day, Railey said.

However, to deal with the 20 years of growth Guam is expected to undergo in about five years, the water agency is looking to build an additional 16 wells. No source of funding has been identified at this time.

The military personnel will use GWA's wastewater treatment facilities, and it will take an additional $50 million to upgrade the Northern District Plant by fiscal 2013 to accommodate them, said Julie Shane, GWA's engineering supervisor for wastewater.