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HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Guam Power Authority had to delay the next phase of its post-typhoon recovery process to this weekend, due to the need to address more water well stations, the utility announced in an update Thursday.
The next phase, which involves concentrated efforts at restoring power to customers in minimally damaged areas, was expected to begin within two days of the Wednesday time frame. The utility said it is continuing to restore system load, or customer demand.
“Our crews have begun to restore power to circuits and ultimately to customers,” GPA stated in its Thursday update. “We are working to restore your power service as soon as possible.”
The system load was 41.5% by Friday afternoon, up from 34.5% the day prior, GPA said.
GPA stated that 12 line crew personnel from the Commonwealth Utility Corp. of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are expected Sunday morning to assist in recovery efforts.
GPA also is coordinating with a Washington state American Public Power Association member utility to bring in 12 line crew personnel with two bucket trucks to assist in restoring the 115 kilovolt transmission lines from Cabras to Hagåtña. One crew will be deployed as an advance team to begin the transmission repair work immediately, according to GPA, which also is a member utility of the APPA.
GPA and Guam Waterworks Authority have a goal to bring 90 water wells into operation to restore water service to all residents.
“The majority of Guam’s water comes from the northern water wells,” said GWA General Manager Miguel Bordallo.
An update was still pending as of Friday afternoon, but as of Thursday, the agency had 63 wells online and producing water.
With just two-thirds of the wells online, GWA stated the water system is unable to produce enough water to meet demand.
“Once at least 90 wells have been brought online, the system will begin stabilizing and producing adequate water supply, providing enough water to fill the reservoirs and return closer to pre-storm pressurization,” the agency said in its release.
As of 5 p.m. Thursday, 28 water wells were nonoperational due to needing either power or repairs, with 16 offline in need of pump and motor change-outs.
“GWA crews are working throughout the day and night to make progress toward the 90-well target, and the public is invited to follow the restoration progress via GWA’s Facebook and Instagram platforms (@guamwaterworksauthority),” the release stated.
