Two days after the Department of Public Works stemmed the flow of sewage into the sea at the problem-plagued Figtree Pump Station a malfunction at another facility Monday caused another spill.
An electrical system failure at the Barren Spot pump station caused a sewage discharge on Monday, according to Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson Jr. in a release Monday afternoon. Thompson didn’t say how long the station was down or how many gallons spilled.
He did say crews were able to install a new electrical motor, restoring operation at the station.
On Friday, long-standing problems at the Figtree station, located just east of the HOVENSA refinery, were partially fixed when an off-island technician repaired the station’s motor control center. The repair will place one of three pumps back online and halt the discharge of 1.7 million gallons of raw sewage a day into the Caribbean Sea. The bypasses had been occurring for several weeks.
"That has basically stopped the . . . hemorrhaging," Thompson said on WSTX radio Monday. "The main thing was stopping the bypass and we’ve done that."
Thompson said two additional back-up pumps at the Figtree station that have been out of commission for months will be operational soon and bring the facility "up to capacity."
On April 28, District Court Judge Thomas Moore issued a draft order that set proposed deadlines for Public Works to complete a range of repairs to the ailing sewage system on St. Croix.
The Figtree station discharges were to have been stopped on May 8, but problems with obtaining replacement parts caused Public Works to miss that tentative deadline. Moore did order that the Figtree station must be fully operational with all three pumps, back-up power and other equipment by June 30. By the same date, the LBJ Pump Station must have a number of fixes made, including all three of its pumps in operation.
Moore has warned the Turnbull administration that once final deadlines are agreed upon he will no longer accept excuses for sewage spills. If deadlines are broken and problems persist he said contempt hearings will take place, with possible penalties ranging from fines to jail terms for government officials.
