Passengers on the cruise ship Destiny were greeted by "Beach Closed" signs Wednesday in Frederiksted.
The closure of Fort Frederik beach is due to a broken sewer line in Estate La Grange. According to a Department of Planning and Natural Resources environmental engineer, the break is causing some 100,000 gallons of sewage a day to flow through the Lagoon Street gut, past the beach into the ocean.
Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson Jr. said Wednesday that he wasn’t sure whether a contract had yet been signed to have the broken line repaired. The Source couldn’t reach Thompson later in the day to confirm whether repairs had started.
In the middle of February, a malfunction at the Lagoon Street sewage pump station caused a discharge into the nearby gut, killing 1,100 fish.
Public Works’ aging sewage system is more akin to a sieve than anything else. According to the DPNR engineer, there are a half-dozen sewer line breaks or pump station problems resulting in sewage discharges.
A recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report found that approximately 70 percent of St. Croix's sewage isn't making it to the island's lone wastewater treatment plant for processing.
The result is that more than 1.5 million gallons a day of raw sewage is being discharged into the waters off the island. Last month, the EPA filed an emergency motion in District Court to have Judge Thomas Moore order Public Works to stop the discharges.
Moore subsequently told Public Works to have the problem-plagued LBJ pump station back on line by Feb. 18. Public Works, however, had to request an extension to Feb. 28. Repairs still had not been completed, though, and the department sought another extension – a day after the repairs were to be finished.
The EPA is currently considering whether it will oppose or agree to another extension.
The problems at LBJ and Figtree, which began in August and November respectively, have caused more than 225 million gallons of "raw, untreated sewage" to flow into the Caribbean Sea, according to the EPA report.
DPNR has reported that the coliform bacteria level in recreational water near the sewage bypasses has been high on several occasions. The maximum level for Class C, or recreational, water is 200 colonies per 100 millileter. Some samples have shown levels with more than 200,000 colonies, or over 1,000 times the maximum.
But even if the problems with the sewage collection system are rectified, the EPA has said Public Works’ 2.4 million-gallon-a-day wastewater treatment plant near the airport is unable to meet federal discharge requirements.
Because of that, the District Court order stipulates that Public Works must hire a private contractor to operate the wastewater treatment plant until it can clean incoming sewage thoroughly enough to discharge it into the sea.