GWA Apprenticeship Program
GWA announces the U. S. Department of Labor has approved the Guam Waterworks Authority’s application as a Sponsor for the Apprenticeship Training Program.  This is a very exciting development for GWA as it demonstrates that GWA has made significant achievement in the succession planning and improved services to augment its present and future workforce.

 “In the next five to ten years half of the GWA workforce will be eligible for retirement.” Said John Benavente, Interim General Manager of GWA. “This apprentice program will ensure that the future of GWA’s workforce is steady and growing”.  Benavente went on to say, “This action was part of the plan when we brought on the Performance Management Contract (PMC). Veolia the manager of the PMC has been working on this since they took over the wastewater side of GWA back in January.” Benavente said.

Outages

On Friday, November 9th, from 7:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. GWA announces a water outage affecting JA Camacho Street in the village of Mongmong. This is around the low cost housing. A contractor will be tying in a 6inch line to GWA lines.

Tiyan water outage since Saturday affecting East Sunset Blvd. residents: This is due to the copper water pipes around the abandoned buildings were vandalized recently. Because there are so many water leaks due to these cooper pipe thefts it is causing low to no water pressure to the existing homes in the area.  GWA apolgizes, however it also is asking for the public's help in reporting any suspicious activity to the appropriate authorities. GWA crews are currently working to fix all leaks in the area.

GWA regrets any inconvenience that this may cause. We are working to improve services on Guam. For any questions on these outages or other GWA information please contact Heidi at 647-2607.

In Other News

A special leak detection crew has been working for the past month in Santa Rita and Agat to find all leaks in the villages. Currently crews have increased water pressure to the area by reducing these leaks. They have also terminated all 4 inch lines in the villages that are not sevicing customers, but have the potential for water leaks. This will greatly assist in reducing GWA's dependency on the Navy water.

On Friday, November 9th at 10:30 a.m. GWA is inviting all media personnel, and all interested community persons to a short informational presentation about the recent improvements made to the villages of Santa Rita and Agat.

“We recently formed a leak detection unit to combat the chronic water problems which have been plaguing the villagers of Santa Rita and Agat for many years”, said John Benavente General Manager Combined Utility Services.  “We have deployed our top personnel since August to address the situation,” he went on to say, “This has not only resulted in reducing our water loss to that area, but also has reduced our dependency on Navy purchased water by as much as 30%”. Benavente went on to say.  “I am pleased with the project and our Assistant General Manager of Collections and Distribution, Anthony Chargualaf who will be assisted by his Direct Responsible Charge (DRC) in the field will be reporting on the results at the Friday November 9th press conference.”

Here are some facts on the situation:

There are several reasons why having a customer shut off valve is so important to our system:

1. When GWA is called to shut off the government valve when there are leaks on the customer side of the meter box; GWA charges for this service.   This high charge can be avoided if everyone has a customer shut off valve.
2. GWA is replacing its valves and they will no longer be available for customers to use.  The need to use GWA valves can be avoided with a customer shut off valve.
3. When GWA is working on the AMR’s they do not want foreign material entering the customer’s line.  To avoid this there needs to be a customer shut off valve.
4. When you go on a trip and are away from your house you can shut off your water with your own shut off valve to avoid water losses.  This can be done with your customer shut off valve.
5. When GWA is finished with the program new meters will not only accurately read the water usage and have less unaccounted for water but with the installation of a customer shut off valve customers can control the flow of water in and out of their homes by themselves without tampering with GWA’s equipment or have to pay for shutting off the customer shut off valve when the customer wants to shut if off.

GWA apologies and asks for the public’s patience while we work to transition from the old meters to the new meters. For inquiries about the AMR program please call either 647-7800 or 647-2603.

Volume 4, Issue 1 - September 2006 (480KB)

Volume 5, Issue 1 - March 2007 (304KB)

Volume 5, Issue 2 - July 2007 (789KB)