Health

DPNR Commissioner Dismisses Claims That St. Croix’s Water Crisis is Akin to Flint, Michigan

The current water emergency in St. Croix cannot be compared to the crisis in Flint, Michigan that first made global headlines nearly a decade ago, said Jean Pierre Oriol, commissioner of the V.I. Department of Planning and Natural Resources.  Mr. Oriol’s comments, made during a virtual information session focused on water quality concerns on St. Croix, come after several individuals shared their beliefs that the two scenarios are in fact similar. Maria Friday, a resident of Estate Colquhoun, recently told lawmakers that “the parallels are not just striking, but literally unsettling.”  According to Mr. Oriol, however, the comparisons to Flint are unfair, and are coming simply because “that’s the one that’s most recent in people’s minds.” He contrasted the Michigan city’s citations for violating the Drinking Water Act, issued almost 15 months “before they declared a state of emergency.” They continued to operate as though all was well, he noted, even as they were in receipt of concerni...