FEMA Says $3.2B Wastewater Rebuild Is Required in Virgin Islands; Residents Face $250M in Costs as VIHFA Suspension Threatens Local Match

The Virgin Islands’ wastewater system cannot be repaired or rehabilitated and must instead be comprehensively rebuilt, according to an assessment by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with full replacement expected by 2034 at a projected cost of approximately $3.2 billion. Officials from the V.I. Waste Management Authority told the Senate Committee on Health, Hospitals and Human Services on Wednesday that the territory’s aging pipelines, pump stations, manholes and related infrastructure have exceeded their useful life. Walton Keith Smith, WMA’s chief of wastewater, said the system’s condition is the result of years of neglect, underinvestment and hurricane damage. “Decades of aging infrastructure, deferred investment, and disaster impacts have left us operating a system that has exceeded its intended service life," he said. The problems include deteriorated pipelines, failing pump stations, collapsing manholes, excessive stormwater infiltration, unreliable electrical power, l...