8 Mar 2010

US military expectations of Guam water system different from Waterworks Authority

8:14 pm on 8 March 2010

The Guam Waterworks Authority says United States military planners have different expectations from those on the island about what changes are needed for Guam's water system with the impending troop build-up.

This comes after the Environmental Protection Agency said a lot more consideration was needed by the military to address environmental concerns over the planned transferral of 8000 marines to Guam.

The Waterworks Authority's Paul Kemp says the military has its own plans to source water on Guam which don't address the needs of locals.

And he says the military planned that Guam would expedite system improvements which the island wouldn't have otherwise needed...

"They don't want to handle the waste water so they're expecting to give it all to us. So they've considered helping us fund expansions. But they're saying well, you should pay most of it. And the thing is, if we didn't have them, we wouldn't have to spend all that money so they're just not looking at it in terms of their impact."

Paul Kemp