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WAPA
Potable Water Reverse Osmosis (RO)
Plant proposed for Coral Bay
November
30, 2011
Latest News: The
US Dept of Interior (DOI) has cancelled grant support for this project
due to numerous federal agency concerns about the environmental impacts
of the RO plant design and the anticipated high cost of constructing this
plant, among other reasons. See letter here.
The planned design will not be built according to WAPA's comments are
in news article here: Virgin
Island Daily News link
CBCC ROLE:
CBCC is dedicated to 1) assisting people in getting involved in planning
the future of Coral Bay; 2) providing educational materials, professional
opinions, and community input on all sides of issues; and 3) facilitating
meetings where issues can be respectfully and rationally discussed. CBCC's
Board firmly believes--and we think most of our members would agree--
that actual planning of land use and infrastructure based on open discussion
and transparency, with ample opportunity for early community visioning
and feedback, has the greatest chance of leading to a Coral Bay community
in which the both people and nature can thrive sustainably over the next
decades. While the CBCC Board does take positions on many issues, and
always expresses environmental concerns, our first priority is to establish
an objective framework of facts and planning information, history, analysis
and education. This provides an appropriate basis for developers, government
agencies and the public to discuss issues and make informed choices. CBCC
also provides forums that allow everyone to have their say -- in a respectful
way to all concerned. We firmly believe this is the best method to achieve
a "win-win" for everyone's future.
As part of CBCC's
Planning Discussion Series, there was a public meeting in Coral Bay on
May 16th, 2011, where the applicant's consultants made a presentation
to the community on aspects of the proposal. Many diverse questions and
comments were made at the time by residents. It has been requested by
CBCC that WAPA make a public presentation of the complete business plan
for this plant, technical design, amount of water, cost of water to be
produced, water distribution systems, and population/business planning
basis for infrastructure, capacity for waste water treatment of increased
water volumes, etc. in Fall 2011 prior to the CZM permit application being
reviewed.
WAPA initially responded it would hold a meeting on November 16th, then
cancelled it after receiving the DOI letter. CBCC hopes that planning
processes and meetings for future infrastructure alternatives will be
held in 2012.
Location: Fortsberg
Specifications: (Unclear – see applicant documents in folder below)
Total Cost: Unknown
Funding: Planning and "first" phase funded by $900,000+ grant
from Department of Interior; completion funding source(s) and timeframe
: Unknown
Partial funding: Drinking Water Grants Program (click
here)
Application process
as of 11/4/11: Applicant analysis and reports being done and submitted
to DPNR CZM and other government agencies for "completeness"
review; current level of analysis is "deficient."
Federal NEPA review process: Flow
Chart for preparation of Environmental Assessment
CBCC Water Resources
Conference Presentation in St. Thomas October 2009: Excerpts
link
Letter and analysis
by community scientists and concerned citizens about environmental issues:
(click
here)
CBCC Letter to WAPA requesting meeting on planning and technical info,
and expressing concerns:
(click
here)
Consultant’s report on May 16th meeting in Coral Bay (to be added);
News Articles- May 16th meeting (click
here);
For detailed WAPA applicant documents : Click on the folder icon below:
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