Saying the cost of repairing the troubled Figtree pump station on St. Croix would be "peanuts compared to the other expenditures" needed in the territory, District Court Judge Thomas Moore questioned the V.I. government's priorities Tuesday after a tour of the sewage system found two million gallons a day of raw sewage flowing illegally into the sea.
In the followup to his first tour in April of the island's leaking, malfunctioning treatment facilities, Moore found some improvements but learned that the sole Figtree station pump had broken down again on Monday.
Even so, the judge did not follow through on threats he made two months ago of jail time for government officials who fail to bring the island's system into compliance.
On Tuesday morning, Moore saw that the Public Works Department had the LBJ pump station up and running, with all three of its pumps, new valves and other required equipment operational. LBJ had long been the cause of sewage discharges just past Long Reef that affected the sea and shoreline from Christiansted to La Grande Princesse.
He also saw that a broken sewer line near East Airport Road had been repaired.
But Public Works still faces many of the problems that prompted Moore to threaten government officials in May with contempt of court if the system wasn’t repaired. Going to the island's wastewater treatment plant "was disheartening," Moore said in court later Tuesday. "It was pretty much the way it was when I last visited."
An order he issued at the end of May called for Public Works to have a laundry list of fixes made to the treatment plant by June 30. A contractor has made some of the repairs, he said, but the plant has again fallen into disrepair.
One of three massive Figtree pumps and electrical equipment there were to have been repaired by the end of June. Moore issued extensions to July 17 for Public Works to complete work on the other two pumps. The deadlines weren’t met.
Public Works got one pump online and operating, but the contractor who is to repair the two backup pumps has yet to do so, saying he is awaiting a $7,000 payment for past work.
At about 5 p.m. Monday, the functioning pump stopped running, according to Public Works officials.
The discharge of untreated sewage was unstemmed as of Tuesday afternoon and Public Works authorities couldn’t estimate when it would be stopped.
"LBJ is working pretty well now," Moore said. "It appears that there still are some significant problems at Figtree."
Although Moore didn’t threaten any government officials with contempt Tuesday, he did take the government to task for not freeing up what he termed the relatively small sums of money needed to get the Figtree station back in operation.
"It’s essential that all three of the pumps are up and running," he said. "I cannot understand the priority of this government. The money has to be found to fix this. This is peanuts compared to the other expenditures that need to be done."
He termed it "inexcusable that a little amount of money could hold up stopping a two-million-gallon bypass per day."
Moore said his "patience is not infinite," although he was reluctant to take the "drastic measures" available to force the administration to perform.
Meahwhile, the judge said, federal attorneys are to meet with local officials to hammer out a workable schedule for the outstanding repairs. "I want a realistic timetable," he said. "I don’t want to hear there is no money."
Many of the territory’s wastewater treatment problems predate 1984, when the territorial and federal governments entered into a consent decree. Problems were again addressed in a 1996 amendment to the consent decree. Because of the ongoing illegal discharges on St. Croix, Moore issued an order in February setting specific deadlines for Public Works to make repairs. He then filed a subsequent order — and issued the contempt threats — in late May for specific repairs to be made by June 30.
Because the wastewater treatment plant hasn’t met minimum discharge requirements set forth in the consent decree, Public Works must now hire a private contractor to operate the plant until such time as it has been operated for six consecutive months without a discharge violation.
