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July 22, 2008 GOVERNOR AND EPA ADMINISTRATOR TOUR NEW ST. THOMAS WASTEWATER PLANT
The V.I. Waste Management Authority hosted an Open House at its newest state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility on St. Thomas today. The open house followed a meeting between Governor John P. deJongh, Jr., Alan Steinberg, Regional Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, May Adams Cornwall, Executive Director of the V.I. Waste Management Authority and Robert S. Mathes, Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner. The function at the Red Point Wastewater Treatment Facility highlights a major milestone for the VIWMA and the VI Government, marking the end of more than two decades of non-compliance by the local government. The completed construction of the two now plants in the Territory address the last of the 1984 Consent Decree issues as was mandated by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The Red Point facility is the second Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) plant for St. Thomas and services the entire Charlotte Amalie area. This plant replaces the existing Airport Lagoon treatment plant, eliminating discharge of partially treated sewage and a former source of occasional odor impacting the airport. The Red Point Wastewater Treatment Facility uses a process known as “Sequencing Batch Reactors” to treat the wastewater which is carried to the plant by the existing sewer collection system. In the SBR process, there are four stages to the treatment of the wastewater: fill, aeration, settling and decanting. The first stage, aeration, includes adding air to the mixed solids and liquid either by the use of pumps or blowers. During the second stage, settling, the sludge formed by the bacteria is allowed to settle to the bottom of the tank. The aerobic bacteria continue to multiply until the dissolved oxygen is all but used up. The decanting stage most commonly involves the slow lowering of a scoop or “trough” into the basin. The flow is measured and then conveyed to screening. There, two automatic rotary drum screens separate grit and heavy solids out of the wastewater. Screened materials are washed, compacted and disposed of at the landfill. The Territory’s first SBR plant at Mangrove Lagoon Wastewater Treatment Plant came online in 2002 on the east end of St. Thomas. A sister plant was also recently built in St. Croix at the existing location of the Anguilla Plant and treats all of the wastewater collected on St. Croix. Other topics addressed at the meeting included: the status of the deJongh Administration’s initiative to appoint a city planner for St. John, ongoing efforts with V.I. Rum Industries Limited, VIRIL, to address the environmental concerns over its effluent discharge on St. Croix, Administrator’s Steinberg’s support for the Diageo partnership with the V.I. Government, the Governor’s renewable energy priorities which include waste-to-energy initiatives and the timeline for closure of both community landfills on St. Croix and St. Thomas. |
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