Road Town sewage problem not going away soon
The lingering sewage stench in Road Town, especially near the Department of Waste Management Depot by the roundabout, continues to frustrate residents and workers, with no signs of a permanent solution forthcoming.
Government officials have acknowledged that the issue is ongoing and linked to operational challenges at the Burt Point sewage plant.
Junior Minister for Culture and Tourism Luce Hodge-Smith explained that although efforts are being made to manage the problem, the system is unlikely to be relocated. “My understanding is that is not going to move. That area, that system there is not going to move,” she said during a recent broadcast of Virgin Islands Voice.
She stated that when the Burt Point facility encounters issues, the stench in Road Town worsens.
“I get photos when there’s an overflow of the sewage in town. So I would, of course, pass it on to the Department of Water and Sewage. And I would get a response back, ‘Oh, it’s because there’s an issue with the Burt Point sewage system’. And then when they fix it, then it stops,” she explained.
Hodge-Smith said the department usually responds quickly.
“Whenever there’s an issue, I pass it on… and they make very special efforts to fix the issues right away,” she noted. Still, she admitted a permanent fix may not be possible. “That stench, I’m not sure if we’re going to be able to get rid of it totally unless we are able to move that system from there,” she said.
Communications and Works Minister Kye Rymer confirmed that the sewage stench has been linked to temporary disruptions at Burt Point. “We had a challenge there just a couple weeks ago, hence the trucks were dumping… back dumping at the Road Town Station. But that was remedied, and the trucks are now dumping back at Burt Point,” Rymer said.
He added that infrastructure upgrades are underway to improve the situation. “We’re supposed to upgrade the lift station… where the ferry docks up. And I think that tender should be out… in at least two weeks,” he said, referring to the area near Crandall’s. He confirmed that manholes have already been acquired and that a new lift station will be installed to improve sewage handling in that area.
Despite short-term fixes and mitigation efforts, officials stopped short of promising an end to the foul odour that continues to plague residents and tourists alike.
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town is the only island in the bvi where you smell the sewage like that, we use to laugh every time we came town and took a big breath by crafts alive, because you knew you were in town now
Eau De Toilet
Welcome to paradise—hold your breath,
Where $hit flows free and dreams smell like death.
Decades of filth, decay, and rot,
And still no fix, though millions got.
They blame the pipes, the plant, the rain—
But never own the blasted shame.
The real clog? A bloated crew
Of politicians too useless to flush a loo.
Junior this, Minister that—
All fart and foam and bureaucrat.
“We’re aware,” they sniff, “We care,” they say,
Then let the trucks dump $hit each day.
The roundabout—a choking grave
Where noxious clouds and lies behave.
Locals suffer. Tourists flee.
But contracts bloom conveniently.
Send a pic, file a report—
And watch them shuffle, dance, distort.
“It’s Burt Point’s fault,” they always cry—
As if sewage just fell from the sky.
The lift station’s coming. A tender’s near.
We’ve heard that same stale line for years.
Flush your hope, forget your trust—
Their governance is sludge and dust.
The ferry port is a toilet bowl,
Where stench and scum exact their toll.
Guests arrive and catch a whiff
Of BVI’s own “royal gift.”
Where did all those dollars go?
Into the pit? We’ll never know.
No audit finds the golden trail—
Just bloated bids and tendered tales.
You paved the streets with $hit-stained pride,
Then dared to stand and smile wide-eyed.
No shame. No guilt. No call to act—
Just press releases packed with crap.
Fix it? Ha! You never will.
This isn’t failure, it’s a skill.
A masterclass in doing less,
While islanders inhale the mess.
And so we breathe, and so we gag,
While you let BVI’s flag
Wave above this sewage stew,
A warning sign: “This could be you.”
Has not this problem had millions spent on it from the VIP, NDP, NDP, VIP and Vip?
Yet, the problem persists. Why?
All is needed now is another beach repair project that never bore fruit, another fisher farmer scheme and an open Geneva and Asia open bank.
Imagine where this territory would be were it not for intentional misguideance of of its funds, just as it is today.
The sea weed is uderstandable that comes and goes, but the sewage issue, for lack of authentic knowledge, is a result of deliberate non and misguided action and diverted funds, it appears.
Try walking on Road Reef. The sewage plant isn’t working, the stench is overpowering, and Government is back pumping everything into the ocean at Slaney Point. Big brown plumes! Or the pump gets backed up and the overflow comes up into the parking lot of RiteWay and flows into the marina.
Road Reef also has the issue of sewage water coming up in the parking lot, especially when it rains. You step out of your car and into a puddle of sewage water. Really great. So you get back in your car with those shoes and have to remember to take them off before you walk into your house. This is literally what 47 calls a shit hole country.
Since I was in my 20’s this government and subsequent governments have been talking about the sewage problem, but all its been is cheap talk and sentiments. Where are we today? Well, I am in my 60’s and I am still hearing the same narrative “sewage problem” Make this bs make sense. We have a premier who spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on parties and first class travel but only talk about our problems not about solutions and actions. This government is at a stand still with the wheels spinning stuck in mud.
It seem to me like the money we about to spend on beautification might be better spent on the sewerage system. What’s the point of looking pretty and smelling like s**t?
“Bishop”, what you’ve illuminated, is a systematic failure, in the leadership, regarding critical, infrastructural development!
Could it be, our failure to attract competent engineers, is the cause of the flaws, for which we don’t want to find a solution to?
I am perplexed, as with so many of our children, earning degrees in this discipline, and still, the country is in the quagmire of filth, that it is!
Perhaps, we’re happy with the “sludge”, the brown sludge, that is!
Perhaps!
People and modern students do no longer view a degree as an intellectual exercise and or accomplishment, but rather as a vehicle of means of graduating into the upper echerlon of personal financial gain of and in society.
UK PLEASE end this nonsense
Every country I have visited I smell the stench of raw sewerage. The last one being Cayman Islands. We need help But Go figure.
TRUCKS WERE THERE DUMPING SEWERAGE , SO THATS A BOLDFACED LIE / SHE IS JUST ANOTHER ONE WHO’S THERE FOR THE RIDE / ALL WE HAVE IS A SET OF WANNABES DOING AN ACTINGJOB AND TRYING TO MAKE IT LOOK REAL WITH A TO LOAD OD SPECIAL EFFECTS AND SWEET TALK ( WORSE IS YET TO COME ,THE ROUNDABOUT IS SHOWING SIGHNS OF THINGS TO COME ) IF YOU NOTICEWHEN RSIN FALLS THERE IS ALWAYS WATER SETTLING IN SOME AREAS IN THE ROUNDABOUT / LEVELING IT UP WITH ASPHALT WONT SOLVE WHAT HAPPENI BELOW ,WE BETTER BE PREPARED TO CREATE ALTERNATE
ROUTES / HOPE MASTER KYE READY