An RMI EPA team visited Rongrong Island last week to check water quality and conduct water safety awareness with the students and staff at Marshalls Christian High School.
“EPA continues rigorous water quality sampling and water quality treatment,” said EPA General Manager Moriana Phillip.
Responding to a complaint from the Rongrong community about gastrointestinal related illnesses, EPA dispatched a team accompanied by a team from UNICEF to take water samples around the small community.
“Water samples confirmed that the water needed treatment,” said Phillip. “As part of the outreach, EPA Technicians Ricardo Jarom and Voneric Boktok demonstrated treatment methods using chlorine. The demonstrations involved the students and the community leaders.”
Phillip said EPA will send a team back to Rongrong next month to supervise the next sampling and treatment to ensure it’s done right.
“After that they can do it themselves,” she said.
In other EPA water quality-related developments:
The RMI EPA reported that for the September 16 monthly water quality tests, two ice producers showed contaminated water: Wei Wei and Z-Brother. Both were directed cease ice production and take action to fix the water situation.
Three other ice producers showed safe water: J&M, Beach Lodge and Elite Engineering.
Three water dispensing companies showed high contamination levels and were directed to cease operations until they solved the problem: CMI, Do It Best and AD Batkan. However, both Do It Best and AD Batkan “promptly resolved their water system issues and re-tests resulted in safe water quality,” said EPA, adding it advised the two companies to reopen.
Water producing companies that met EPA standards for safe water on the first test were: Pacific Pure Water, EZ Price, Payless, and MH20.
One-third of the food vendors providing hot lunches to public schools failed the RMI EPA water quality test in September, according to the monthly results provided to the Journal.
Of the 24 vendors checked, 16 used water that “complied with RMI EPA standards for safe water,” while eight did not, said the EPA water quality laboratory report.
Meanwhile, both Pan Pacific Foods and Marshall Islands Fishing Venture tuna processing plants showed water used in all ares of the two plants to be safe and in compliance with EPA standards.
About half of the 13 coastal water locations checked by the RMI EPA showed polluted water.
“Six sites exceeded the RMI standard…Jenrok Park recorded the highest contamination…followed by Mieco, RES and MIHS (lagoons),” the report said.