While its sewage system collapses under the weight of years, the territory has jeopardized and/or failed to use millions of dollars in federal grants that were intended for upgrading the aging wastewater system. Funds that were not actually lost were redirected to other types of projects.
That’s according to a court filing this week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in a long-standing case seeking to force the Virgin Islands to comply with basic federal clean water standards.
Operating under a consent decree overseen by the District Court, the U.S. Attorney, as plaintiff, and the V.I. Government and the V.I. Waste Management Authority, as defendants, have been working for years to bring the territory into compliance.
Hearings and proceedings have multiplied recently as the poor condition of the wastewater system has become more and more apparent because of a series of manhole overflows and broken sewer pipes leading to raw sewage discharging in public places. Most recently, sewer gas forming in a deteriorated line was blamed for the noxious odors that sent some Central High School students and staff to the hospital in March and eventually prompted relocating Central classes for the rest of the school year.
At a hearing early this month, the court charged both sides to file briefs this week, providing information about a number of factors relating to the territory’s wastewater management. Among them: what federal grant monies are available for wastewater projects; how well those funds have been used in the past; by how much does VIWMA need to increase its staff, and what will be the cost; and what are the potential health risks of broken pipes and overflowing manholes.
In its brief, the U.S. Attorney’s Office cited two main sources of federal grants for wastewater projects: the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior. Both are able to make awards under more than one type of grant.
“VIWMA, in the past, has failed to timely spend monies granted by DOI under its CIP (Capital Improvement Project) program for certain wastewater projects, resulting in the de-obligation of the monies granted,” the brief reads. “De-obligation” means the federal government didn’t give the money to the Virgin Islands. In later years, Interior has been able to re-grant such funds to the V.I. government, but not necessarily for wastewater projects.
For instance, about half of a Fiscal Year 2005 capital projects grant of $4.1 was diverted to other projects. $3.7 million of the grant had been earmarked for wastewater projects and $416,800 was supposed to go for solid waste projects. But when the grant period expired on April 30, 2010, nearly $3.5 million of the funds had not been spent or obligated. The next year, the federal government re-granted the money, but only $1.3 million of it was designated for wastewater projects; the other $2.1 million went for other projects.
The story was similar for a FY06 grant of $3.5 million. In that instance, $700,000 was diverted away from wastewater projects because it wasn’t spent within the grant period.
In FY08, $1.1 million of a $2.8 million capital projects grant for wastewater projects ended up redirected to solid waste projects.
Fiscal Year 2007 was a good year; WMA fully expended all of a $3.2 million wastewater grant.
Since 2009, except for redirected grants, the local government has not included any requests for wastewater projects under Interior’s capital improvement project program, though it has sought and received money for solid waste projects.
The U.S. Attorney brief also listed several instances when the territory lost out on EPA grant funds, sometimes because of federal budget cuts beyond its control, and sometimes because of mistakes or delays.
In 2005 the agency awarded $240,600 to be used for completing a wastewater collection system study and to upgrade Geographic Information Systems data for the system. The V.I. government used the money, but the EPA determined the work it did was not authorized. Unless the local government can prove the funds were indeed for projects within the scope of the grant, that money is lost.
The V.I. government outright lost a $258,800 EPA grant in FY09 because it failed to apply for it before the deadline.
The largest loss came in FY12, but it was due to federal cutbacks; what was expected to be a $4.4 million grant turned into $3.1 million because Congress cut EPA’s total grant budget by $10 million and the agency spread the pain over several jurisdictions.
In responding to another question from the court, the U.S. Attorney’s brief provides a lengthy list of diseases and health impacts that can be caused by exposure to untreated sewage.
“At the May 5 hearing, there was evidence concerning sewage discharges resulting from blockages of the sewer, from pipe failures, and from excessive rain water intrusion into the sewer lines” through breaks or ruptures in the pipes, according to the U.S. Attorney brief. Among the multitude of problems it can potentially cause are diarrhea, nausea, cholera, salmonellosis, infectious hepatitis, respiratory pathogens and skin infections.
In its brief, the VIWMA outlined steps taken to address recent sewage problems, all on St. Croix. Last December, the manhole near Angry Nate’s bar and restaurant overflowed “due, in large part, to heavy rains. VIWMA vacuumed the line and resolved the issue, but stormwater affected the ability of VIWMA to stop the sewage overflow,” the brief read.
In November, a contractor installing a new manhole by the Frederiksted Fish Market hit the sewer line; the line was repaired, flushed and vacuumed.
As for the Central High incident, VIWMA said it and a contractor deposited sodium chloride deposits to eliminate the odor. In the longer term, EPA funding will be used to repair and rehabilitate the sewer lines along the main road in front of and next to CHS.
“None of the work associated with location took place on the CHS campus, as that is the province of the Department of Public Works and it has promised to investigate and repair the CHS sewer system to eliminate any remaining odors on the site,” the brief said.
A major concern for the court and all the parties is the need for more staff at the Waste Management Authority. In response to the court, the authority said in its brief that it needs four senior staff engineers, a technician and an administrative assistance, in addition to existing staff. The projected additional cost is $521,826 annually.
Both sides in the suit are looking for sources for that money, and indicating that higher user fees are a prime target.
