The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked a federal judge to sanction the V.I. Public Works Department for discharging millions of gallons of sewage a day into the sea off St. Croix.
In papers filed in District Court on St. Thomas Monday, the Department of
Justice, on behalf of the EPA, asked Judge Thomas Moore to have Public Works immediately stop discharging some 1.3 million gallons of raw sewage a day in violation of the Clean Water Act.
In a statement, William Muszynski, EPA’s Region 2 deputy director, said that if the judge grants the EPA’s request, public works will be ordered to repair the problem-plagued LBJ pump station. Because the pumps at the station haven’t worked for months, millions of gallons of raw sewage a day are being bypassed over Long Reef just a few miles away from Christiansted.
The EPA’s request would also have Public Works finish repairs at the Figtree pump station, the Bethlehem Interceptor and the St. Croix Wastewater Treatment Plant.
"The environmental and human health risks posed by the continuous discharge of raw sewage from the LBJ and Figtree pump stations and th Bethlehem sewer trunk are not acceptable to the EPA," Muszynski said.
The EPA’s filing comes about six months after the agency and the Department of Justice helped Public Works obtain approximately $130,000 to fix the two pump stations. The money was set aside as part of a mid-1990s federal court consent decree aimed at getting the V.I. to deal with past wastewater problems, said Mary Mears, an EPA spokeswoman.
"These are violations of the consent decree and the Clean Water Act," Mears said. "They are the same basic issues."
Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson Jr. didn’t return a call as of Wednesday evening. However, in several recent Senate committee hearings focusing on Public Works, Thompson said a lack of funds is hampering the department’s efforts to carry out its responsibilities.
With the V.I. government’s financial problems in mind, Mears said the EPA gives low-interest loans annually to the territory for wastewater system improvements and funds the local Clean Water Program.
"I’m not sure it’s just a money issue," she said. "I think to the extent we can we are helping. We have a limited budget so we just can’t randomly throw money at the territory.
"We do what we can to help the V.I. government. But the bottom line is these discharges must stop."
Muszynski, who is in the territory until Friday to get a first-hand look at the situation, said the EPA is also lending Public Works technical assistance, including arranging a visit by experts from the New Jersey Water Environment Association.
