The V.I. Waste Management Authority has contracted with Tibbar Energy USVI, a company contracted to supply the Water and Power Authority with biogas power production from Giant King Grass, to use treated wastewater for its farming, according to the VIWMA.
This effluent water, which is currently treated to secondary standards and discharged into the ocean from the Anguilla Wastewater Treatment Facility on St. Croix, will now to be re-used for the irrigation of Giant King Grass. The effluent water will be piped to local farms in the immediate area, where the grass will be grown as a feedstock for Tibbar’s renewable energy facility.
Tibbar will also accept food waste, fats, oils and greases and bio-solids at its facility, free of charge, to assist the VIWMA with its recycling goals, according to a statement from VIWMA.
VIWMA Executive Director May Adams Cornwall said the agreement will help VIWMA “with meeting the mandates of the SEA Accord agreement of zero discharge by diverting the island’s wastewater for agricultural uses.”
Tibbar Energy is developing a 7 MW biogas plant on 15 acres of the V.I. Port Authority’s land adjacent to the Anguilla Wastewater Treatment Facility. WAPA has agreed to purchase the power generated from Tibbar.
Tibbar will pay the VIWMA for the effluent water that they use for irrigation and will also commit to a $1.5 million investment in sewer improvements that will help reduce salt water intrusion into the system.
