Enactment

Enactment. There is hereby enacted a new section to require all garment factories and hotels to install bar screens and grease traps within their premises to prevent the entrance of foreign materials into the public wastewater system. The bar screen and grease traps designs must be submitted to the CUC Wastewater Division for certification within approved standards by the USEPA before being installed. The maintenance of such preventive systems lies with the premises’ owners. As appropriate, pertinent regulations governing such systems may be promulgated by the CUC Wastewater Division and the effective date of the implementation of this chapter may take effect pending the promulgation of such regulations. Source: PL 10-87, § 3. Commission Comment: PL 10-87 took effect January 23, 1998 by veto override. According to PL 10-87, §§ 1 and 2: Section 1. Short Title. This Act may be cited as the Public Wastewater Systems Protection Act of 1997. Section 2. Findings. The Legislature finds that the various wastewater manholes across Saipan have been recurrently overflowing from backflowed sewage. The Legislature also finds that the public has been unfairly exposed to the potentially health hazardous effects from such numerously reoccurring overflows. The Legislature was made to understand that the overflows was directly attributed to an increasing presence of foreign materials (of which garment rags, and pieces of wood are among the highest) that are not supposed to be in the public wastewater system. The Legislature further finds that the tremendous increase of foreign materials in the public wastewater system directly clogs up the passage of sewage being pumped by the wastewater impellers installed by the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation. Fortunately, because the impeller pumps are designed to automatically trip off once foreign objects can not be pumped, the clogging occurs. The clogging exacerbates a “chair reaction”, forcing the preceding impeller pumps to correspondingly shut off, causing sewage backflows and subsequent manhole overflows. To this end, the Legislature, therefore, seeks to assist remedy the situation seek preventive measures by requiring all garment factories and hotels to install CUC approved bar screens and grease traps within their premises and for which the premises’ owners are responsible for the maintenance of such installed preventive systems.