According to Hon Melvin M. Turnbull (R2), If the issue of the sewerage systems in Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, Virgin Islands (VI) is not addressed as a matter of urgency, there is likelihood that the water in the area will eventually become polluted, forcing the closure of the beach once again. Photo: VINO/File

Hon Turnbull says that due to the prospects of the flooding issue happening again, he has spent many restless nights with community members and other leaders to get the situation fixed. Photo: VINO/File

The existing Cane Garden Bay Sewerage Plant was damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017. Photo: VINO/File

The already ailing system was damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria of 2017 and in 2018, the National Democratic Party (NDP) Government had planned to “retrofit” the existing system to get it up to about 50-60% capacity but to date, those works have not been completed.

Hon Turnbull says that due to the prospects of the flooding issue happening again, he has spent many restless nights with community members and other leaders to get the situation rectified.

The last flooding had resulted in residents and businesses suffering immensely from a steep decline in tourism activities in the area.

Old system inefficient

In his address to the territory during the final 2018 sitting of the House of Assembly (HoA) of the Virgin Islands on December 28, 2018, Hon Turnbull elaborated on the situation.

“Madam Speaker it was back in early last year that we sat with the people of the second district, the Minister of Communications and Myself and we spoke about having the sewage system installed in Cane Garden Bay by the end of 2018,” he said.

Mr Turnbull explained that the 36 pump stations in the area have been installed some 20 years ago and ever since the hurricanes of 2017, the equipment have become faulty and inefficient.

He explained that because of the flood that damaged the power supply for the functioning of the pump stations, “We are now having to have the pump stations pump on a daily basis.” “Madam Speaker it is a very ticklish situation because doing nothing is not an option,” he insisted.

According to Mr Turnbull, the contractor who is responsible for pumping the sewerage, ”I think his contract states that he should pump two or three times per week but now he is forced to pump every day of the week.”

Added to that, he says, “While we are welcoming the cruise ships back to our shores, sometimes we have two or three on a daily basis… we cannot afford what happened to us late last year,” he said, referring to the situation where the beaches in that district had to be closed.

Community Effort

“Tremendous works were done by the community… we worked to ensure that the pollution, the water pollution was corrected and we are now to a point where the beach was reopened and continues to be opened,” he said.

However, there is the big “but” according to Mr Turnbull, “Madam Speaker we have to ensure that we move with haste to install the sewerage systems within the Cane Garden Bay.”

He continued, “I want to again, for the record reiterate, the idea to put 36 sewerage stations in Cane Garden Bay…. it was a bad idea and we need to correct it were quickly.”

Mr Turnbull—a former key member of the NDP administration—said that Minister for Communications and Works, Honourable Mark H. Vanterpool (R4) has given a new deadline to be the end of the first quarter of 2019 to have the situation handled.