Naval Base Guam $15 Million Wastewater System Upgrade Nearly 30 Percent Complete, Says Core Tech; Prelude to Island Wide Overhaul for Military Buildup

Written by SHARLA TORRE MONTVEL-COHEN

Friday, May 06, 2011

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GUAM – A $15 million project to upgrade the wastewater collection system at Naval Base Guam is nearly one-third complete, bringing the island's largest military base closer to its updated targets for capacity and reliability at the Apra Harbor Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Barrigada-based Core Tech International designed the project to replace and rehabilitate sewer lift stations and sewer pipelines in the collection system of the Navy-owned Apra Harbor plant. The company beat out five other bidders to win the contract in August 2009 and it began construction last September.

"We started the project at the main base where we are putting in a new pump station," Core Tech estimating manager Jong Won told GuamBuildupNews.com. "We're already more than 30 percent complete and now we're totally replacing the old sewer line along Marine Drive between Sasa Valley and Polaris Point."

Core Tech is on track now to finish the project by May 2012, Mr. Won said, updating the original September 2011 target. He added that the company has partnered with "quite a few" subcontractors to fulfill the work, including Korando Corporation and Eureka Construction Corp.

The team is replacing antiquated sewage lift stations with new facilities for operations and maintenance. Pump station controls and emergency generators are being placed in structures hardened for typhoons and a system for supervisory control and data acquisition that feeds back to the base system at the Apra Harbor plant is being built for all stations, according to procurement documents.

While the Apra Harbor plant upgrade is not a Defense Policy Review Initiative project and therefore not directly tied to the Defense Department's realignment of Marines in the Asia Pacific region that has spurred Guam's military buildup, DoD does plan to continue to use it for increased DoD populations in southern Guam including serving new visiting Navy ships.

"The capacity of this plant is currently adequate to handle the proposed increased demand from the proposed DoD buildup, which would occur primarily from the transient ships visiting Guam, the carrier vessel nuclear (CVN) plus escorts and the expeditionary strike group (ESG)," according to the Navy's environmental impact statement for the buildup.

The Apra Harbor work is a prelude to buildup- and DPRI-specific improvements at the Northern Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Hagatna and Agat plants, as well as the central and northern collection systems. By the time at least 8,600 U.S. Marines arrive with their 9,000 dependents and entourage, the Guam Water Authority says, water infrastructure must advance to levels now targeted in the Capital Improvement Plan for 2025.

To make way for construction, the Navy has advised traffic changes will be in effect for the next six months, beginning May 9. "From 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily (except Sundays) until mid-November, 300 to 1,000 foot sections of the south and north bound interior lanes of Marine Corps Drive from Polaris Point north will be closed to traffic," the Naval Base Guam announcement said.

GuamBuildupNews.com will provide ongoing coverage of progress, challenges and delays in major components of the military buildup program and related infrastructure upgrades to make this information more accessible, so that all affected stakeholders can better plan for their impacts.

For queries regarding this or other stories, email the editor at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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