VIWMA Faces Costly Equipment Breakdowns

Board members of the V.I. Waste Management Authority learned of the dire conditions controlling wastewater flow, the constant dumping of used tires throughout the territory, difficulty with contractors and enduring financial problems at Tuesday’s board meeting.

To begin the litany of problems, Keith Smith, territorial manager of Wastewater Operations, reported the system is only performing at 20 percent capacity. Only one pump is working at the Charlotte Amalie station on St. Thomas and it will take eight to 12 weeks to get new pumps. There is standing water behind the Windward Hotel, even when it hasn’t rained, and wastewater is running through the streets of Frenchtown.

The board members agreed that replacing 32 pumps is “a main priority.” Smith said funds are being moved around to try to make ends meet. There are “a lot of high priority, emergency projects,” he said, including Vessup and Cruz Bay on St. John. “You can’t function with 61 percent of the pumps off-line,” Jean-Pierre Oriol, board member and commissioner of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, said.