Feb. 3, 2004 – Public Works Commissioner Wayne Callwood provided Gov. Charles W. Turnbull and Lt. Gov. Vargrave Richards an update on Tuesday of repairs at the Lagoon Street wastewater pump station in Frederiksted relating to problems that developed on Thursday, Government House announced.
Personnel from Public Works and its contractor General Engineering Corp. (GEC) "worked through the weekend to correct the mechanical problems at the pump station and stop the bypassing in that area," a release stated.
On Thursday, less than 24 hours after the Frederiksted beach and pier waters were declared "acceptable for recreation" following repairs to the pump station, a major mechanical malfunction dumped 2,000 gallons of raw sewage from the pump station into the Lagoon Street gut and adjacent parking lot. (See "New pump station failure spews out more sewage".)
In the course of repairing a failed valve on Friday, it said, workers unearthed a section of piping found to have "severe water corrosion of the piping and related fittings and had the possibility of developing into another problem." The work crew also replaced the corroded parts.
Callwood said bypassing of sewage in the Frederiksted are was halted early Sunday evening utilizing an emergency diesel pump.
He said two pumps are to be repaired and installed at the Lagoon Street station "by early this month" and that three new pumps for St. Croix "are expected to arrive on island within 60 days and become operational within the next 120 days."
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