AS-EPA urges public to play “pivotal role” in drinking water safety

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency (AS-EPA) is encouraging the “community to support and recognize the pivotal role they play in protecting clean and safe drinking water.”

“The community can help by reporting sightings of people accessing the gated location of water wells and storage tanks, illegal water pipe connections, storage tank leakage, and any source of contamination nearby,” said AS-EPA, in the latest community awareness message.

The message comes at the time as AS-EPA recently completed a sanitary survey of the Central Water System, which is a public water system on Tutuila that is owned and operated by the American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA). The survey was conducted in collaboration with ASPA and the Hawai`i Rural Water Association (HRWA).

AS-EPA explained that, in a sanitary survey, a public water system undergoes a physical review of the system’s water source, facilities (e.g., storage tanks, pumps, and wells), operations and maintenance processes of the water system.

The survey collects information on water systems and helps AS-EPA determine ASPA’s capacity to deliver potable drinking water to the general public.

Please call 633-2304 or email [email protected] for more information