You have entered the website of the Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific (WERI) at the University of Guam. We are currently six faculty and five staff and our mission is to seek solutions through research, teaching and outreach programs, to issues and problems associated with the location, production, distribution and management of freshwater resources in Guam, the CNMI and the FSM.
Abstract not available. The report's Executive Summary follows.
This report presents the collaborative planning, analysis and capacity building efforts and achievements made by the project team to study the quality of drinking water sources on Yap and its neighboring islands. Water has a major impact on human health, and the provision of adequate supply of good quality drinking water is vital to communities worldwide. The economic and social well being of small island states like Yap is greatly influenced by the quality of water and its effective management. However, infrastructure and trained human resource base constraints reflect in quality delivery of services. Although three large-scale water systems have been serving the people of Yap for several decades, a qualitative study of its water resources have never been undertaken. With this in mind, the study described herein was initiated in 2004 to evaluate the chemical composition of water from three large scale systems on Yap proper, and some of its neighboring islands, with the following specific objectives:
Representative samples analyzed from three large-scale systems of Yap proper and neighboring islands revealed the quality of water available for the population. Results demonstrated that the groundwater, in general, is of good quality based on the parameters tested. Water samples from five sites (Lumpur-YSPSC, Gagil-GTWS, Old Airport-SYWS, Falalop-Ulithi and Woleai) were tested for various physical and chemical parameters including inorganic components and metals. Tests were also performed for volatile organic compounds and disinfection byproducts. No significant levels of contamination were noted in samples collected from the water systems of Yap. However, samples from neighboring islands displayed fairly high levels of chloride, indicative of contamination through salt-water intrusion. Of the 179 water samples tested for bacteria in Yap proper, 37 were positive for fecal coliforms. In contrast, all water sources except rainwater tested positive for fecal coliforms on the neighboring islands visited. Poor sanitation prevalent in the neighboring islands is a serious impediment for delivering potable water to the communities.
