Guam’s infrastructure combines island-wide utility networks with a power system, seaport, and airport that connect residents, businesses, government, visitors, and military activity. The latest figures here cover Guam Waterworks Authority (GWA) in FY2022, the electric system in 2023, and the Port of Guam and A.B. Won Pat International Airport in FY2023.
Contents
- Water and wastewater systems
- GWA staffing and finances
- Electric grid and generation
- Electricity users, prices, and targets
- Port of Guam cargo and finances
- Airport passengers, aircraft, mail, and cargo
Water and wastewater systems
The Guam Waterworks Authority served an average of 43,242 water customers during FY2022, according to the GWA 2022 Citizen-Centric Report. Its wastewater system served an average of 30,488 customers during the same fiscal year. These are separate service totals, so they describe the average customer base for each utility service rather than a combined customer count.
GWA’s water supply included 120 production wells. The authority also operated one surface water treatment plant, one active production spring, and one Maui well. Together, these figures describe a water-supply portfolio with wells as the largest stated source category and several additional production or treatment assets.
The water distribution system included 27 booster pump stations and 24 reservoirs or tanks in service. It covered 586 miles of water distribution lines and included approximately 3,814 fire hydrants. The line mileage indicates the physical reach of the network, while the pump stations, storage assets, and hydrants represent supporting infrastructure distributed across that system.
GWA’s wastewater collection system included 306 miles of gravity sewer network and approximately 33 miles of force main. It operated 82 sewer pump stations. The treatment system included five wastewater treatment plants and three outfalls. In practical infrastructure terms, the reported wastewater network contains collection lines, pumped sections, treatment facilities, and discharge points as distinct parts of one service chain.
The following snapshot keeps the FY2022 GWA measures together.
| GWA measure | FY2022 figure |
|---|---|
| Average water customers | 43,242 |
| Average wastewater customers | 30,488 |
| Production wells | 120 |
| Water distribution lines | 586 miles |
| Gravity sewer network | 306 miles |
| Wastewater treatment plants | 5 |
| Sewer pump stations | 82 |
| Fire hydrants | Approximately 3,814 |
All figures in this section are from the GWA 2022 Citizen-Centric Report and refer to FY2022 unless stated otherwise.
GWA staffing and finances
GWA had 366 total full-time employees in FY2022, as reported in the GWA 2022 Citizen-Centric Report. The reported staffing structure included 80 Administration and Support employees, 19 Compliance & Safety employees, 28 Engineering employees, and 46 Executive Management employees.
Operations staff were distributed across several infrastructure functions. Operations: Construction & Maintenance had 31 employees; Operations: Water Distribution had 51; Operations: Water Production & Treatment had 36; Operations: Wastewater Collection had 45; and Operations: Wastewater Treatment had 30. These category figures show personnel assigned to both the water and wastewater sides of the utility, as well as to construction, maintenance, compliance, engineering, and administration.
The same report describes several FY2022 financial changes. Total water revenues decreased by $321 thousand, or about 0.5%. Total wastewater revenues increased by $2.2 million, or about 6.8%. Total operating expenses rose by $3.7 million, or about 4%.
Two reported expense changes were especially large in dollar terms. GWA’s power purchases surged by $6 million in FY2022, while depreciation expense rose by $1.6 million. These are reported changes, not a reconstruction of the authority’s full income statement.
Revenue was divided among four customer categories. Residential customers accounted for 59.38% of FY2022 water revenue, commercial customers for 20.56%, government customers for 11.40%, and hotel customers for 10.68%. The categories total the reported water-revenue mix and show that residential use represented the largest stated share.
Electric grid and generation
Guam’s electric grid spans 1,839 miles of transmission and distribution lines, according to the EIA Guam Territory Energy Profile. The Guam Power Authority had about 53,000 electricity customers in 2023 and 464 megawatts of generation capacity.
More than 85 megawatts of GPA generation capacity was fueled by renewables. At the same time, fossil fuels provided 94% of Guam’s electricity generation in 2023. Generation capacity and actual generation are different measures: the first describes the stated capability of the system, while the second describes the reported electricity mix during the year.
The U.S. Navy made up about 17% of GPA revenues in 2023. The EIA profile also identifies the customer groups that consumed Guam’s electricity: residential users consumed 34%, commercial users 33%, the U.S. military 20%, and Guam government users 12%.
| Electric-system measure | 2023 figure |
|---|---|
| Transmission and distribution lines | 1,839 miles |
| GPA electricity customers | About 53,000 |
| Generation capacity | 464 MW |
| Renewable-fueled capacity | More than 85 MW |
| Fossil-fuel share of generation | 94% |
| Residential share of consumption | 34% |
| Commercial share of consumption | 33% |
| U.S. military share of consumption | 20% |
| Guam government share of consumption | 12% |
The consumption shares are reported by the EIA Guam Territory Energy Profile for 2023. They describe electricity consumption, while the Navy figure describes a share of GPA revenues and should not be treated as a consumption share.
Electricity users, prices, and targets
The average residential electricity price in Guam was $0.38 per kilowatt-hour in 2023, according to the EIA Guam Territory Energy Profile. The profile says Guam’s residential electricity price was more than twice the U.S. average of $0.16 per kilowatt-hour in 2023. Both prices are stated as averages for that year.
Guam’s renewable portfolio standard sets two future targets. It targets 50% of electricity sales from renewables by 2035 and 100% of electricity sales from renewables by 2045. These are policy targets for electricity sales, not claims about the 2023 generation mix. The distinction matters because the same EIA profile reports that fossil fuels supplied 94% of generation in 2023.
The combination of the current price and generation figures gives infrastructure readers several separate indicators to track: the size of the grid, the number of customers, available generation capacity, the share of renewable capacity, the actual generation mix, and the long-term renewable-sales targets. None of these measures alone describes the entire reliability or cost profile of the island’s power system.
Port of Guam cargo and finances
The Port of Guam handled 86,000 containers in FY2023, according to the Port of Guam FY 2023 Annual Report. That was a 4% decline from 89,000 containers in FY2022. The comparison is between the two reported fiscal-year container counts.
Breakbulk activity moved in the opposite direction. The port handled 215,000 tons of breakbulk cargo in FY2023. Breakbulk volume increased by 73,000 tons, or 52%, from FY2022 to FY2023. Domestic breakbulk cargo increased by 25,000 tons in FY2023, while foreign breakbulk cargo increased by 48,000 tons.
Roll-on/roll-off activity also increased. The Port handled 6,821 individual roll-on/roll-off cargo units in FY2023, up 29% from FY2022. This unit count is distinct from container counts and breakbulk tonnage, so the measures should be read as separate cargo indicators.
Port operating revenues increased from $57.7 million in FY2022 to $60.6 million in FY2023. Port operating expenses also increased, from $60.7 million to $62.2 million. The revenue and expense figures are operating totals reported for the two fiscal years; they are not presented here as a net-income calculation.
| Port measure | FY2022 | FY2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Containers | 89,000 | 86,000 |
| Port operating revenue | $57.7 million | $60.6 million |
| Port operating expenses | $60.7 million | $62.2 million |
| Breakbulk cargo | Not stated in the supplied comparison | 215,000 tons |
| Roll-on/roll-off units | Not stated in the supplied comparison | 6,821 |
Airport passengers, aircraft, mail, and cargo
Guam’s airport recorded 1,629,183 total passenger movements in FY2023, according to the GIAA FY2023 Citizen-Centric Report. The report separately recorded 882,664 enplanements and 746,519 arrivals. It also recorded 147,235 transits and 735,429 departures.
These airport movement categories should not be added together as though they were independent passenger totals. They are separate reported measures of passenger activity, and the total passenger-movement figure is the headline measure provided by the airport report.
Aircraft activity reached 27,602 movements in FY2023. The airport handled 12,969 metric tons of mail and 10,536 metric tons of cargo during the same fiscal year. Mail and cargo are reported separately, as are aircraft movements and passenger movements.
Taken together, the airport figures describe several dimensions of aviation infrastructure use: passenger throughput, aircraft activity, and freight handling. The measurement period is FY2023 throughout this section, and the source is the GIAA FY2023 Citizen-Centric Report.