Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA) is applying for a $100 million loan from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) to help fund numerous projects that are going on right  now. The loan is a ‘soft loan’ with interest of 1.57%, and there is a $3 million annual payment with 40 years to pay the full loan amount.

The annual payment is affordable for ASPA and the reason they are applying for this loan is so they don’t have to increase rates.

This was revealed by the ASPA Chief Executive Office (CEO) during a hearing before the House Government Operation Committee this week to discuss several issues representatives wanted to understand including the problem of the low pressure of water with the cannery, street lights and the boiling water notice.

ASPA CEO Wallon Young and another senior official Ryan Tuatoo appeared before the committee to answers questions from representatives. The hearing was chaired by Rep. Faimealelei Anthony Fu’e Allen.

The issue about the ASPA loan was mentioned when Tualauta Representative Larry Sanitoa questioned the issue of the ASPA boiling water notice. Sanitoa stated that the reason why he raised this issue is because its been months since he’s heard anything about the boiling water notice but he knows that the problem is still there.

Sanitoa said he wanted to find out where are we at right now with the boiling water notice. He said its being 11 years since 2009 when EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) came and said that they were starting their testing for E-Coli.

He also asked about the report of water leaks from wells around the island. It’s a huge problem with a lot of water pumped out being lost, more than what’s being gained, he noted.

With regards to the boiling water notice, Young told the committee that ASPA has awarded a contract of $5 million to Fletcher to install two projection systems on wells in the Fagaima areas. Once these systems are built, ASPA will be able to lift the boiling water notice. The project has just started.

With regards to the problem of water leakage, Young said about 60% of drinking water is lost to leaks, and its been an ongoing problem for decades.

ASPA is not letting the problem continue to grow, he said. “We have multiple projects going on right now especially the project to cure the water leak problem. Work construction is now started from Pavaiai to Mapusaga Fou where the pipe lines are very bad,” adding that ASPA loses about 70% of its water because of the leaks from pipe lines that deliver the water around the island and these these pipe lines need to be replaced.

The problem ASPA is facing with the pipe lines, according to Young, is that parts are very expensive and ASPA gets some funding from EPA but it’s not enough.

So what ASPA has done is that they have applied for a $100 million loan from the USDA to fund not only the replacing of all pipe lines in the area that cause the water leak problem but to fund other ASPA project to better its service.

Young told the committee that they approached Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga for his help with a letter to sent to Congresswoman Aumua Amata in an effort to help with their application so that they can get the full amount for which they’re asking.

According to Young, there’s about 180 miles of the pipe lines that ASPA needs to replace in order to stop the water leak problem; and not only are the parts of the pipelines expensive but also the restoration part which is the most expensive part.

“Governor Lolo has already advised us not to fix part of the pipe lines that caused the problem and leave the other, but to fix the whole thing to make sure nothing will come up again in the future. And that’s what ASPA is going to do,” said Young.

Sanitoa thanked Young and Tootoo for the good works ASPA has done for the community, however, the problem we’re facing right now about the water leaks was way back over ten years ago and is still happening.

Given the fact that most of the drinking water is coming from many villages of the Tualauta district, where over 22,000 people reside, Sanitoa said that he’s very serious about this problem because his constituents are struggling with the problem of running water and flooding for many years.

He said that losing 60% of water that’s pumped from wells is a huge problem and its good for the community especially people living in the Tualauta area to get updates of these projects so that people will follow through.

Sanitoa also wanted to know how much of the lost water contributed to the problem of flooding and running water in the district.

NEW WELLS AND STARKIST WATER PROBLEM

ASPA is looking at drilling ten (10) new wells in the central area of the island, of which  2 wells have already been drilled, but they are waiting for the wells to be connected to the water pipeline system.

The 2 new wells will produce 10 millions gallons of water a month. The first well is in Iiili where it will produce 250 gallons of water a minute or 8 millions gallons of water a month, while the second well in Kokoland will produce 100 gallons of water a minute or 4 million gallons of water a month.

“We’ve planned to drill 10 new wells in the central area and the intention is to have enough water for everybody and to improve the low pressure problem in the central area and other parts of the island,” said Young.

For the water problem with StarKist, Young said that they are still working close with the cannery to fix the problem and to increase their water supply. Right now, the cannery uses 40 million gallons of water a month and that’s one of the main reasons why ASPA planned to drill ten new extras water wells in the central area, not only to supply more water for the whole island but also to increase water supply for the cannery up to 20%, which is about an additional 8 million gallons of water a month.

ASPA is planning to complete this project before the ending of this year.

Saole representative, Titialii Kitara Vaiau pointed out that that one of the reasons the cannery has faced this problem was the water pipeline system was in 1958, and the only way to cure the water low pressure problem with the cannery is to upgrade the whole cannery pipeline system.

Rep. Vailiuama Steve Leasiolagi said the project to solve the water problem the cannery is facing is a good move because StarKist is about to extend its operation for American Samoa.

He said not only are they extending their operation to the location where the STP (Samoa Tuna Processor) is, but they also plan to go on to the other side of Atuu, the location where the old Marist High School was, a school owned by the Catholic Church.

Vailiuama told the committee that last Friday, a member of the church signed 2 lease agreements with the cannery for their new operation, and that is why the Fono wanted to solve the low water pressure problem with the cannery so that their future plans for American Samoa continue to grow.