The stench of sewage periodically plagues areas of the Virgin Islands. According to Daryl Griffith, interim executive director at the Waste Management Authority, there is a reason that happens. He told the Public Services Commission Tuesday that the sewage system is over a half-century old, and patchwork no longer works; the whole system needs to be replaced. Fortunately, FEMA agrees with him.
FEMA assessed the territory’s sewage system after the 2017 hurricanes and concluded the entire system had to be replaced.
In October of last year, FEMA determined the St. Croix system replacement would cost just over one billion dollars and it would pay 98 percent of this cost. The territory matching share is to be $20 million.
Last month, FEMA determined the cost of replacing the St. Thomas system would be just over $2.1 billion, and again, it would pay 98 percent. This leaves $43.7 million for the territory shares.
Commission Chair Pedro Williams asked if federal grant money could be used to make matching payments. Griffith said that most federal money was earmarked for specific projects and could not be used for matching funds. However, he added that the Housing Finance Authority did have federal funds that could be used in the sewage project.
Williams also asked if the territory had to spend the money and then get reimbursed. Griffith said, “No.” Williams said, “Good that you don’t have to come up with $4 billion.” Griffith said, “It would have been impossible.”
Commissioner David Hughes called the project one of the most significant the territory has seen. He recommended, and it was approved, that the PSC investigate the idea of having an observer on the task force involved in the project’s planning.
Pertaining to St. Croix, Griffith reported, “The Authority has aggressively begun procuring the necessary equipment and services in the four months since these funds were obligated.”
He added that the authority had contracted with Engineering Design Technologies to provide the design for relocation of the LBJ pump station responsible for most of the sewer leaks in Christiansted. Advertisements for the purchase of sewer pumps for St. Croix have already gone out.
The authority has started creating the scope of work for the requests for proposals to acquire pumps for the St. Thomas pump stations and for the repair and rebuild of the pump stations.
Griffiths concluded his report to the commission, “In the years to come, the territory’s sewer infrastructure should finally see the promise of real change. Still, we should all be aware that this type of infrastructure change is complex and involved because it requires enormous amounts of planning, engineering, and construction and has many moving parts, it takes time.”
Although commissioners responded positively to Griffith’s report, they did not have a favorable reaction to a presentation from the authority’s attorney concerning an ongoing dispute about how the PSC assesses fees from WMA. The authority was asking the PSC to reconsider including the funds the authority gets from the central government in its calculations determining fees
The PSC is funded by assessing fees to the agencies and businesses it regulates.
