Saipan’s water system has reached about 80% restoration with 24‑hour service, Commonwealth Utilities Corporation coordinator Joel Hoepner reported, saying federal support and expanded well production have helped bring multiple tank service areas back to full or near‑full operation.
Hoepner said FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continue to power dozens of wells with generators, allowing CUC to maintain production even as the grid remains unstable.
“Their generators are keeping our water wells pumping water as well,” he said.
The Isley tank service area is now at 100 percent service, supplying Susupe, Chalan Kanoa, Fina Sisu, San Antonio and parts of Koblerville.
The Dan Dan tank service area is also “pretty much 100%,” supported for now by a temporary 60,000‑gallon tank that crews must keep full. A new 1‑million‑gallon Dan Dan tank has passed final inspection and is expected to come online in the coming weeks, which Hoepner said “will greatly change the Dan Dan tank service area to be more robust and a lot easier to manage.”
The Dan Dan homestead and As Lito/Obyan areas remain on limited hours but have seen improvements as production increases. Meanwhile, As Terlaje, As Matuis, San Vicente, and Kannat Tabla remain on scheduled water as CUC continues to stabilize pressure and production.
A major boost came from adding six additional wells in Kagman, powered by Army Corps generators and a booster pump. That allowed CUC to move “around 500 gallons per minute out of Kagman over to Papago and the San Vicente tanks,” relieving pressure on the Isley well field and helping bring Garapan to 100% online, from the cemetery road north to Kannat Tabla and south to the federal courthouse.
Hoepner highlighted Kannat Tabla as a key milestone. Once the last red zone on CUC’s map, the area is now receiving water after vendors installed a bypass in the dip transmission and distribution piping. “We turned that on, and parts of Kannat Tabla received normal water, other parts at lower pressure,” he said, adding that crews are “dialing in” the pump‑based operation and expect more normal service, including for upper Chalan Kiya, in the coming days.
Despite the gains, Hoepner said water loss and leaks remain the biggest barrier to full restoration, especially in the As Matuis–San Roque–Tanapag corridor. About 40 CUC workers are split into north, central and south teams “to find and fix leaks every day,” repairing “probably 100 or more leaks a day.”
He also reminded customers in construction zones or lower Dan Dan who still have no water that their meters may have been shut off early in the response to control leaks. He urged them to call the CUC call center so individual services can be checked and restored
