The Guam Water Authority has agreed to undergo $400 million in wastewater system upgrades as part of a consent decree with U.S. officials. The settlement aims to address sewer overflows and other alleged violations of the Clean Water Act.
The authority is responsible for Guam’s drinking water and wastewater systems. Its wastewater system includes 320 miles of gravity sewer and mains, 82 pumping stations, and four treatment plants throughout the North Pacific Island North American Territory. In a complaint filed in federal court in Guam on Jan. 31, attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice wrote that GWA’s system experienced at least 237 sewer overflows between January 2018 and September 2021.
In one spill described in the complaint, about 12,150 gallons of sewage overflowed from a maintenance hole behind a fire station and flowed onto the shore. In another, 62,000 gallons of sewage flowed from a pumping station into a river.
GWA also failed to monitor or report monitoring results for about 2,100 parameters in 54 monthly reports to the US Environmental Protection Agency, continuously failed to meet operation and maintenance requirements, and discharged pollutants that exceeded the levels allowed by their EPA permits more than 2,700 times between August 2013 and September 2021, according to the Justice Department.
“These excesses resulted in the addition of thousands of pounds of pollutants to waters of the United States without permit authorization,” the complaint states.
The necessary work is planned to improve the operation of the system, to better pretreat wastewater to control grease, oil and grease, and to plan for the impacts of sea level rise related to climate change, according to the EPA.
Under the consent decree, GWA agreed to submit a plan to the EPA to upgrade secondary treatment at its Agaña/Hagåtña wastewater treatment plant and plans for repairs to dozens of pumping stations. GWA also agreed to complete inspections of its gravity network, then implement a repair, rehabilitation and replacement program; completing pipe sizing projects to ensure adequate capacity for wet weather peak flows; and inventory all of your major strength segments, then evaluate them and create an action plan for needed repairs.
The work covered by the consent decree is essential because of the health and environmental problems that sewer overflows can cause, David Uhlmann, deputy administrator of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said in a statement. EPA
“By improving sewer system operations and upgrading infrastructure, Guam will meet its legal obligations and be better prepared for the major storms that are likely to occur more frequently due to climate change,” Uhlmann said.
GWA did not immediately respond to emailed inquiries about how soon it can seek contractors for the work. The hydraulic authority will have years to complete the required improvements, according to the authorization decree.
