American Samoa Coastal Management Program

Non-Point Source Pollution Program

Water quality in Samoa is an important aspect of public health and environmental protection. The Department of Commerce, Coastal Zone Management Program, together with the American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency have teamed up to implement projects that protect Samoa's waters from a form of pollution called "Polluted Runoff". Polluted Runoff comes from many sources and is caused by rain moving over and through the ground. As water flows over the land, it picks up and carries away natural and manmade pollutants. Then, these pollutants are deposited in streams, wetlands, coastal waters and underground sources of drinking water called groundwater.

When pollution occurs, it can have a harmful effect on our quality of health and living. For example, trash dumped into streams and beaches can have a negative effect on the plant and wildlife that live in these waters. Soil erosion occurring from a variety of land use practices can find its way to our beaches and coral reefs, smothering the coral and fish.

American Samoa's Watershed Protection Plan is aimed at protecting American Samoa's waters. It follows the federally mandated Clean Water Action Plan to make America's waters fishable and swimmable. Resource management on a watershed level is a comprehensive approach towards protecting the waters of American Samoa for life. A watershed is nature's boundary for water resources. It consists of the land in which water drains into a common area. Rainfall in Samoa flows into streams and wetlands and eventually into the ocean. Or, the water may percolate through the soil to become groundwater.

An Interagency Committee has been formed and shall meet over the next to years to combat polluted runoff on a watershed level. The public is encouraged to participate in the key actions outlined in the Watershed Restoration Strategies that target hazardous materials, filling, surface hardening, and flooding, eutrophication, sedimentation, drinking water (groundwater), and solid waste.

 In addition to Watershed Restoration Strategies, work is currently underway to make Malaeimi Valley a Special Management Area because of its importance as the island's main recharge zone for groundwater. This valley feeds into the large aquifer which supply's most of the drinking water in the Nu'uuli and Tafuna Watershed, as well as other parts of the island.

For more information or ways to get involved in protecting Samoa's waters, please contact the Department of Commerce at 633-5155