U.S. Reaches Agreement with Guam Waterworks Authority Requiring Investment in Sewer System Infrastructure
Government
The United States filed a complaint alleging that GWA was in violation of provisions of the Clean Water Act and applicable permits by repeatedly discharging untreated sewage from its wastewater collection system and discharging excess pollutants from its wastewater treatment plants.
At least 237 sanitary sewer overflows have occurred from GWA’s collection system since 2018. GWA has also been implementing Safe Drinking Water Act work and other Clean Water Act work under a 2011 federal court order.
The consent decree requires GWA to minimize overflows, which will have immediate benefits to the island’s environment. Untreated sewage from overflows can pose serious threats to human health and damage the environment.
GWA will improve sewer system operation and maintenance programs and implement new requirements for pretreatment of wastewater and to control fats, oils and grease (FOG). Sewer system upgrades will include practices to improve climate change resiliency of pump stations and to consider EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities initiative, including the Resilient Strategies Guide for Water Utilities. The settlement also requires enhanced public outreach and engagement to increase transparency around GWA’s plans to comply with the agreement and educate the public on its environmental improvements.
GWA will also develop a feasibility study for secondary treatment upgrades to the Hagåtña wastewater treatment plant, which will include analyses of climate change and sea level rise and be submitted for EPA’s approval. This secondary treatment upgrade will be embodied in a subsequent judicial settlement. GWA receives some grant funding from EPA for wastewater and drinking water projects, including $50 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding over the past two years.
Reducing overflows will also protect coral reef ecosystems from adverse nutrient imbalances and coral diseases that can result from sewage discharges. The environmental impacts of sewage spills to waters include hypoxia, harmful algal blooms, habitat degradation, floating debris and impacts to sensitive species.