Specialized in maintaining GWA’s standards for quality and service. Select a team or unit below to learn about their role at GWA
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Under the direction of the General Manager, Water Operations and Maintenance is composed of Utility Services Division Operations, Water Distribution, Water Production, Wastewater Collections and Wastewater Treatment. The Operations Department provides water and wastewater services in a safe, reliable, responsible and cost effective manner.
Responsible for the tracking divisional budget balances and expenses, processing and posting of JDE Work Orders and daily well status reports, employee time keeping, payroll and performance evaluations, Inter-office communication and coordination with Private Management Contractor on wastewater and water personnel related issues. Creating, routing and maintaining records of memos and correspondences, and advising assigned employees of HR policies and procedures. This office serves to support Water and Wastewater Operations Department by delivering service both internally and externally on all procurement needs and capital improvement project support in areas of work order management and job costing to create an atmosphere of accountability.
Receive customer phone inquiries, complaints, water and wastewater emergency reports of outages and provide information to the public regarding the status of operations and services.
Responsible for meter testing and maintenance to avoid revenue loss from under-registration of meters.
Responsible in the preventive maintenance of GWA’s over a thousand water and wastewater assets.
The Meter Reading Unit read over 41,000 water meters both electronically and manually. GWA currently operates two AMR read systems (Metron Farnier & Badger Read Center). Meter Readers also manually read all Sensus meters as well as report various water related incidents such as service line leakages, meter leaks, valve leaks, flooded meter sites, illegal connections, etc. Currently, this team does double duty by reading meters and assisting the Small Meter Task Force to change out meters.
Guam Waterworks Authority operates GIAA’s entire water system. The specific areas included are the well and transmission lines, the granular activated carbon (GAC) filter system, the reservoir, the chlorination system, the booster pump and fire pumps and the distribution system.
The Ugum Water Treatment Plant turns raw river water into safe, drinkable water for the southern area of Guam (Ipan to Umatac). The Ugum Water Treatment Plant is designed to produce up to 4 million gallons per day (MGD).
The Deep Well Section of the Production/Treatment Division is responsible for the extraction of clean drinking water from Guam’s groundwater sources, the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer (NGLA). This section operates and maintains GWA’s 120 deep water wells, ensuring that well operations meet established environmental quality standards. The Section also monitors operating conditions and ensures production sufficient to meet daily consumption demand of our water customers. This is accomplished through the professional, reliable, and certified operators of Guam Waterworks Authority.
The Ugum Surface Water Treatment Plant (USWTP) Section operates and maintains GWA’s only surface water production facility, which pumps raw river water up to the plant and through several steps of its membrane filtration treatment and chlorine disinfection processes. This process produces clean, safe, potable water which is stored at the plant’s reservoir and released into the distribution system, serving the southern area of Guam from the villages of Ipan to Umatac. The USWTP is designed to produce up to 4 Million Gallons per Day (MGD) but currently produces 2.3 MGD to meet customer demand.
The Production/Treatment Division also operates and maintains the GIAA Public Water Supply System through an operating agreement between GWA and the Airport Authority. The water system is designed to produce over 700,000 gallons per day and is classified as a closed system, serving only GIAA facilities and tenants within the GIAA property.
The Production/Treatment Division operates and maintains the Air Force/Navy’s Tumon Maui Well Facility through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and License from the U.S. Navy. This is Guam’s top producing well, and is designed to produce over 1.2 MGD and along with other GWA wells provides water service from upper Tumon to the village of Piti. Through the One Guam initiative for cooperation and partnership between military and civilian utility counterparts, GWA has operated and maintained the Tumon Maui Well facility to U.S. Navy standards for over 3 years. In exchange for the water produced at this facility, GWA provides water services to the military where water is needed at their new Marine Cantonment in northern Guam.
The Disinfection Section is in charge of maintaining GWA’s complete inventory ofchlorination systems in use at all our production facilities. This includes deep wells, springs, surface water treatment plant, Tumon Maui Well and GIAA’s public water supply system. They perform corrective maintenance as well as preventive maintenance and ensure an adequate supply of chlorine gas is available to disinfect all processed water.
This section is in charge of all instrumentation components throughout GWA’s water and wastewater systems. Instrument Technicians troubleshoot, repair, replace and install any and all instrumentation devices. By ensuring all instruments are operational and accurate, GWA operators can monitor pumping flow rates, system pressures, reservoir levels, chlorine residuals, turbidity levels and any other parameters needed to comply when operating a water or wastewater system.
This section is in charge of all electrical components throughout GWA’s water and wastewater systems. Electrical Technicians troubleshoot, repair, replace and install any and all electrical devices. They are also responsible to verify appropriate incoming power parameters are supplied to all GWA facilities, and ensure all facilities and electrical equipment is operational at all times to meet the service requirements for all of our customers.
Dispatch Division is responsible for monitoring both water and wastewater system operation. All water and wastewater operational activities are funneled through this division. Dispatchers are also trained to handle customer inquiries or complaints.
The Water/Wastewater System Control Center (WSCC) is the mission-critical 24/7 operational section which is responsible for monitoring, analyzing and controlling all water and wastewater system operations. The WSCC is in constant communication with system operators to ensure both water and wastewater systems are operating normally at all times. All system adjustment and operational modification instructions are dispatched by WSCC and all system activities are documented. Field data reported by operators are recorded and compiled for shift reports sent to upper management and the engineering department.
The Trouble Dispatch Section is responsible for receiving and handling all customer operational complaints and inquiries that deal with the provision of water or wastewater services. Work Orders are generated for each customer inquiry and then disseminated to WSCC for the appropriate operational division to verify or rectify. The section also sends out water and wastewater emergency alerts which pertain to water outages or sewer overflows. Trouble dispatchers provide information and feedback to the customer(s) in the event there is a water or wastewater issue affecting their area.
Chemical Enhanced Primary Treatment Facility Upper Tumon and Dededo is in charge in the proper operation and maintenance to comply with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. This facility treats at average daily flow of 5.51 MGD and disposes of all solids generated at the Layon Landfill.
This plant located in the village of Hagatna is a Primary Treatment Facility with Chemical Enhanced Primary Treatment. In 2014 enhancement to treatment process was completed. The primary role of the staff is the proper operation and maintenance of this facility to comply with NPDES permit. This facility treats at average daily flow of 5.8 MGD and disposes of all solids generated at the Layon Landfill.
Consists of 4 wastewater treatment facilities which include Agat, Umatac, Inarajan, Baza Garden and Pago Socio. Presently has an operating staff of 5 employees. The primary role of the staff is the proper operation and maintenance of this facility to comply with NPDES permits.
• Agat-Santa Rita – Secondary Treatment facility with average daily flow of approximately 1 MGD
• Umatac – Lagoon facility with average daily flow of of 500,000 GPD.
• Baza Gardens –This Plant is now closed and sending all effluent to the newly opened Agat-Santa Rita Wastewater Treatment Plant in Agat.
• Inarajan – Lagoon facility with average daily flow of 100,000 GPD.
• Pago Socia treats 3,000 gallons
This section is responsible for the daily operations of 78 pump stations and responding to wastewater trouble calls such as SSOs. This section is divided into 3 districts, North, Central, & South relative to the island. The Northern district manages 22 pump stations that flow both to the NWWTP and The HWWTP. The Central district manages 27 pump stations which all flow to the HWWTP. Finally the Southern district manages 28 pump stations which contribute flow to the 4 Southern Wastewater treatment plants.
Responsible for all corrective and preventive maintenance activities for 78 sewer pump stations and 6 wastewater treatment plants island wide. Maintenance activities include all buildings, pumps, electrical components and panels, generators, and appurtenances. Furthermore the maintenance section also handles the repair and rehabilitation of sewer forcemains and gravity sewer lines.
FOG stands for Fats, Oil and Grease. Grease is the common term for animal fats and vegetable oils. Why is FOG A Problem? When grease enters our sewer system, it acts much the same way as it does when it sticks to your pots and pans – it collects on the pipe walls and builds up until there is a clog. When a sewer line clogs, the pressure has to be released somewhere. Generally this is the lowest point available – which may mean backing up into the establishment that caused the grease, or in another building between there and the back-up. The sewage may also find a manhole and overflow – in which case it is not only a serious public health hazard, but if it gets into a storm drain and into the ocean, it’s an environmental problem as well.
Unit responsible in the corrective and preventive maintenance of over 250 GWA vehicles and tracking fuel consumptions.
Unit responsible in the corrective and preventive maintenance of 89 generators servicing GWA’s deepwell and pump stations.
Unit responsible in the maintenance of GWA’s facilities and all of its more than 15 heavy equipments.