Pacific

American Samoa's ASPA prepares for dry season

09:04 am on 28 May 2014

The American Samoa Power Authority, ASPA, is preparing for possible drought conditions during the upcoming dry season as well as an active tropical season later this year.

The executive director Utu Abe Malae says ASPA is planning for a drought based on the Pacific El Nino-Southern Oscillation centre's update in April.

He says the update indicates drought conditions will likely occur as the territory enters its dry season which begins next month.

He says as part of the preparations ASPA will look to repair leaks in transmission, distribution, service lines and even at customer homes.

Utu says ASPA is also preparing for an active tropical cyclone season starting November because of the intense El Nino event developing in the Pacific.

He says the last serious drought for American Samoa was during an intense El Nino event in 1998, and they almost had to shut down the canneries; and if that had happened, government would have suffered a furlough.