A whopping one million-dollar water bill for one local high school had education officials swimming in confusion. 

News of the outstanding charge for George Washington high school sent shockwaves during a Guam Education Board (GEB) meeting. 

GEB Chair Dr. Mary Okada said, “Dr. Swanson, where is the GWA? Cause apparently, some million dollars that is owed to GWA–why is it not reported in this report?” 

To which GDOE superintendent Dr. Kenneth Swanson replied, “Have we been billed?” 

“My understanding is that we’ve been billed and I think the million dollar outstanding is specifically for GW,” Okada said.

Guam Department of Education (GDOE) officials explained they were in communication with the Guam Waterworks Authority (GWA) to verify the validity and accuracy of the unusually high amount. 

And as it turns out, Swanson told KUAM that further investigation revealed the amount was due to a faulty water meter.

“My maintenance folks went and checked, and we could find no leaks–so we got in touch with the Guam Water Authority, they came out and checked the meter-and sure enough, it was a faulty meter–so they removed it and put the right one in–or not the right one, but a new one,” He said. 

Swanson added GWA has pulled the million dollar bill and is in the process of readjusting what GDOE really owes. 

Swanson said, “So they pulled out the million dollar charge and are looking a year back for the same three-month period and averaging that water bill to replace the billing for the same period this year.” 

It’s a sigh of relief for GDOE as Swanson says, its utility bill averages around $18 million dollars a year for both water and power for all 41 campuses.

With GDOE’s American Rescue Plan funds sunsetting soon and with the recent removal of its third-party fiduciary agent, GDOE has no wiggle room to spend irresponsibly. 

“We’ve been using our capacity to charge some of that stuff to federal–now what we’re also looking at in ARP funding is expiring at the end of this fiscal year, so we’re adjusting our budget and spending patterns so that…that’s driving a lot of the economy moves that we’re doing so that when we come into the new fiscal year, we’re not at a deficit, cause we can’t be–we can’t run in the red,” Swanson said. 

In response, GWA general manager Miguel Bordallo informed KUAM News, "GWA’s position at this time is that the previously issued billings stand, although we are reviewing GDOE’s concern about the billing. No determination has been made to make any adjustments to the billing. Although there is no indication of a faulty meter, we have replaced the meter at GWHS.

Even after the meter replacement, GWA can confirm that the facility continues to register continuous water usage, and in fact GWA advised GDOE representatives about significant leakage at the GWHS site as far back as May of this year during discussions about using the school as a shelter prior to Typhoon Mawar. During that same time period of pre-storm preparation, GWA Operations personnel documented significant leakage within the school property and attempted to assist GDOE in making repairs to leaking valves and fixtures within the facility."