HONORING THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GUAM WATERWORKS AUTHORITY AND PROCLAIMING GUAM WATERWORKS AUTHORITY YEAR

On 2026-08-31, Representative James C. Moylan (R-GU) delivered a floor speech titled "HONORING THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GUAM WATERWORKS AUTHORITY AND PROCLAIMING GUAM WATERWORKS AUTHORITY YEAR" in the House.

HONORING THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GUAM WATERWORKS AUTHORITY AND PROCLAIMING GUAM WATERWORKS AUTHORITY YEAR

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 137 (Monday, August 31, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 137 (Monday, August 31, 2026)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages E817-E818] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] HONORING THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GUAM WATERWORKS AUTHORITY AND PROCLAIMING GUAM WATERWORKS AUTHORITY YEAR ______ HON. JAMES C. MOYLAN of guam in the house of representatives Monday, August 31, 2026 Mr. MOYLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a remarkable milestone for the island of Guam and for one of the most strategically important pieces of infrastructure in the United States Indo-Pacific territory-- the Guam Waterworks Authority. This year marks the 30th Anniversary of GWA's establishment, and I am proud to bring this occasion to the attention of the United States House of Representatives. Guam is not just an American island--it is America's forward post in the Pacific. As the westernmost territory of the United States, Guam is home to some of the most significant military installations in the Indo-Pacific region: Andersen Air Force Base, Naval Base Guam, Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz, and the headquarters of Joint Region Marianas. The ongoing U.S. military buildup on Guam--one of the largest in the Pacific since World War II--is reshaping the island's strategic landscape and will bring thousands of additional military personnel, families, and civilian workers to our shores in the coming years. That buildup depends entirely on one thing: water. Clean, reliable, abundant water. And that is precisely what the Guam Waterworks Authority provides. GWA was established on July 31, 1996, by the Guam Legislature through Public Law 23-119, creating an autonomous, self-supporting public corporation to manage the island's water and wastewater infrastructure. Since commencing operations on February 1, 1997, GWA has served not only the 160,000 residents of Guam but also the United States military installations that depend on GWA's water systems for operational readiness. The federal government has recognized this reality--and invested accordingly. The Department of Defense provided $55.3 million in August 2016 and an additional $117.9 million in November 2017 through the Office of Economic Adjustment, helping to finance the upgrade of the Northern District Wastewater Treatment Plant to full secondary treatment, completed in August 2022. That upgrade was completed ahead of the opening of Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz--the first new Marine Corps base established since 1952, activated in October 2020, and officially opened in January 2023, located in Dededo and named in honor of Brigadier General Vicente T. ``Ben'' Blaz, Guam's own son and the first person of an ethnic minority to reach general rank in the U.S. Marine Corps. Camp Blaz is home to approximately 1,300 permanently stationed Marines, with another 3,700 rotating through on temporary deployments--all of whom depend on GWA's water and wastewater infrastructure. This partnership--GWA and the United States government working together--is a model of what the One-Guam Initiative represents: the proposition that Guam's security, readiness, and sustainability cannot be separated. The One-Guam Initiative, formalized through a 2010 memorandum of understanding between GWA and U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, expanded by the 2016 MOU, deepened by the 2022 Memorandum of Agreement for co-management and protection of the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer, and anchored by a 10-year Intergovernmental Support Agreement executed in July 2023 following Typhoon Mawar, is now a cornerstone of Guam's utility strategy and the military's long-term infrastructure planning. Protecting the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer--the primary source of drinking water for northern Guam and the military installations that rely upon it--is both an environmental imperative and a matter of national security. GWA has not waited for the federal government to solve its challenges. Beginning with an inherited crisis--more than $25 million in accumulated debt and federal lawsuits for water quality violations-- GWA undertook a sustained, twenty-year transformation. It filed its first rate petition in 2004, entered the bond markets in 2005, achieved debt service coverage compliance for the first time in Fiscal Year 2012, and has since built a capital program of $898.8 million for the period 2025 through 2029. The 2025 Interim Water Resources Master Plan calls for approximately $1.892 billion in infrastructure investment through 2037--a commitment that will shape Guam's water security for decades. The scale of that investment reflects the scale of what Guam is becoming. Camp Blaz is receiving thousands of Marines relocating from Okinawa, Japan--a realignment that is decades in the making that makes Guam the centerpiece of America's forward-deployed Marine presence in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. military buildup is not just a national security deployment--it is an economic and demographic transformation for our island. GWA is planning and investing now so that Guam's water and wastewater infrastructure will meet not only today's demands but the demands of a larger, more strategically vital Guam for the next generation. I also want to acknowledge something that often goes unsaid in this chamber: the federal government has an ongoing responsibility to the people of Guam. We are American citizens. We serve in the United States military at extraordinary rates--among the highest per capita of any state or territory. We pay federal taxes. We abide by federal laws and federal environmental mandates. GWA's 2024 Partial Consent Decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency commits GWA to a 10-year wastewater collection system improvement program--a federal requirement that comes with a price tag. Congress can and should continue to support Guam's utility infrastructure as part of its broader commitment to the Indo-Pacific strategy and to the constitutional obligation owed to all American citizens, wherever they live. As GWA celebrates its 30th Anniversary, I include in the Record each of the General Managers who has led this Authority since inception: Richard A. Quintanilla, Herbert J. Johnston, Jr., Gil Shinohara, David E.R. Craddick, John Benavente, Dr. Leonard Olive, Martin L. Roush, Thomas F. Cruz, Mark G. Miller, Greg P. Cruz, and current General Manager Miguel C. Bordallo. Their leadership--and the work of every GWA employee--has kept water flowing to the homes, schools, hospitals, and military installations of Guam through typhoons, drought, [[Page E818]] pandemic, and the rapid changes that come with being at the forefront of America's Pacific presence. Mr. Speaker, GWA Year runs from July 31, 2026, through July 31, 2027. February 1, 2027, will mark thirty years of continuous utility operations as a self-supporting public corporation. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this milestone, recognizing that a stronger GWA means a stronger Guam, and a stronger Guam means a stronger United States in the Pacific. God bless the people of Guam, and God bless the United States of America. ____________________