A planned sewage bypass at St. Croix’s LBJ Pump Station pumping waste over Long Reef will continue until Wednesday due to unforeseen, necessary additional work, according to the V.I. Waste Management Authority. Residents of the LBJ Housing Community and the condo row area should avoid standing water and not use the beach for the time being. Those with weakened immune systems should avoid the area, according to WMA

WMA is replacing a 24-inch force main and doing work on the sewer pump station.

It was necessary to shut down the pump station to allow the contractor to empty and clean its wet well, drain the gravity sewer system and the force main, replace the flow meter and connect the new force main to the pump station, according to WMA.

After the existing force main pipe alignment was exposed, difficulties in making the connection required more time than the 10-days initially planned. Cleaning of the pump station’s wet well was delayed due to excessive sludge and debris. The backwash and drainage of the existing force main had to be phased and controlled over a longer period of time to avoid sewer system overflows.