The long-awaited incinerator at Tortola’s Pockwood Pond landfill is now being tested, said Dancia Penn, the British Virgin Islands deputy premier and minister of health and social development.
“I am assured that the commissioning process will be concluded by the end of this week,” she said.
Penn made her remarks Tuesday at a meeting of the B.V.I.’s House of Assembly. They were released by the B.V.I. press office.
The incinerator’s activation is not one minute too soon for Coral Bay area residents who have suffered for several years when an acrid smell caused by open burning at the Pockwood Pond landfill blows toward them.
“But I’m going to wait and see how it goes,” Coral Bay resident Phyllis Benton said, adding that the burning was a particular problem for people with allergies.
She said that it was difficult for the territory to make the B.V.I. conform to U.S. standards because it was a foreign country.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Elias Rodriquez said that EPA plans to be on St. John as soon as the wind starts blowing in the right direction to see if there are any emissions coming from Pockwood Pond.
“We were set up to do it this week, but the wind was blowing wrong,” he said.
EPA has tested Coral Bay’s air quality before, but Rodriquez said that nothing of concern turned up.
The new incinerator is able to process 100 tons of waste a day, and when combined with the existing incinerator brings the total capacity to 140 tons a day.
According to Penn, installation began on Dec. 20, 2010. The installation work was substantially done in May, but start-up was delayed until mid-August because the technicians from the manufacturer, Consutech, had scheduling conflicts. They arrived Aug. 20 to begin the work.
Penn said that commissioning the new incinerator is “quite detailed and technical.” It involves the operation and testing of hydraulic pumps and other mechanical components, as well as acclimatizing the inside of the chamber so it can handle waste.
She continued that the new incinerator won’t solve all of the B.V.I.’s waste management challenges.
“But the new plant is expected to be a vital component of a comprehensive waste management strategy in our country,” Penn said.
