McMaster promises solution to sewage water along highway

Motorists and pedestrians traversing the James Walter Francis Highway are being told that they will soon be able to breathe a sigh of relief as plans are afoot to correct the disturbing issue of sewage water flowing along  the roadway in the vicinity of the BVI Red Cross.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communication and Works, Anthony McMaster said his ministry is aware of the issue and within the next few weeks will have it addressed.

“What is happening is that we have two issues: we have a collapsed pipe underground and because of the collapsed pipe, the sewage is unable to flow how it normally would. So, if it’s accustomed to flow at a 100 percent it is probably flowing at 30 percent. In addition to that, the pump station that services that area is still without power. We are waiting on power,” McMaster told BVI News Online.

According to the Permanent Secretary, there are still two out of the six sewage pumps in Road Town that has not been powered up.

“That also, unfortunately, helps the sewage to run on the road. It is not something that we like. We have arrangements with the sewerage truck to continuously pump them down so that the sewerage doesn’t run on the road, but I think you can imagine the amount of sewage that is coming from Purcell down to Treasure Isle and by the time it gets down to that area it is quite a substantial amount.”

Describing the situation as unfortunate, he said work is underway to have it corrected.

“We are hoping that by the end of this weekend we will have power to the other two pump stations in town that don’t have power at the moment. What we have been doing is working around the territory and that is one of the areas we expect to deal with within another week or so. And once we deal with that, that problem should be a thing of the past.”

He was unable to say how much it is expected to cost to have the matter corrected.

Meanwhile, he explained that not all the water seen in that vicinity or running along roadways throughout the territory is related to sewage.