Coastal Policy Case Study (c) 2002 Steffen Schmidt

Water contamination from sewage is one of the most widespread problems in coastal areas around the world. We have documented major spills or routine flow of raw sewage into beaches and oceans in such diverse places as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Rhode Island, the Adriadic, northern Mexico (Baja), South Florida (the Miami-Palm Beach area where intense construction periodically results in sewage line ruptures and beach closings including the famous South Beach), and many other locations.

On a recent trip to Tortola, British Virgin Islands (BVI), I had the opportunity to research this issue at a very beautiful and popular beach community, Cane Garden Bay.

Cane Garden is a curved harbor surrounded by steep hills dotted with homes and scattered condominiums. The palm lined beach area has a narrow strip of houses, stores and eclectic restaurants and bars including the popular complex owned by popular singer Kito Rimer.

As with many communities in developing nations, Cane Garden Bay has had a growing problem with disposing of raw sewage. Although the community is small there has been a gradual increase in the number of homes, condominiums, small inns/hotels, bars, and restaurants. The sheltered harbor has also become a popular destination for charter and privately owned yachts who use the anchorage and go ashore to enjoy the beach and restaurant scene.

This slow but steady increase in population has increased the quantity of sewage and made contaminated water at the beach and in the harbor a local health problem and a concern for future growth of tourism. To address this issue, the the Legislative Council of the government of the BVI appointed a Working Party to determine the causes of the declining water quality at Cane Garden Bay and to recommend a solution.

The process followed by the government seems sensible and responsible, following what appears to have been best planning practice in public administration. In 1997 the Working Party report recommended that the government build a comprehensive sewage treatment system. They also recommended that connection to the sewage system be mandatory for residents and business and recommended the creation of a fee system to help finance the project.

The project was put out for contracts and four companies submitted bids. A technical committee reviewed these and the tender committee recommended that the engineering part of the project be awarded to ADI ($225,000) and that construction of the actual system be awarded to ICC (Island Construction Company) for $372,435 bringing the total to $597,435.

Surprisingly, the contract for both design and construction of the system was, instead, awarded to the company Caribbean Basin Enterprises. The company is owned by the chairman of the Virgin Islands Party. The total cost of the contract was almost $1.5 million, more than twice the cost of the bids recommended by the technical committee.

In December, 2001, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the government issues it's second report. According to the newspaper Stand Point the chair of the committee, opposition leader Orlando Smith said that the report "... illustrates what can go wrong - and at what expense to the taxpayer - when proper planning procedures are not followed." The report concluded that "the sewage system at Cane Garden Bay was overpriced, poorly designed, and failed to solve the water quality problem at the popular beach..." (Stand Point, December 18, 2001, p. 7).

The report by the PAC concluded that the Committee could find no justification for the decision by the Executive Council in awarding the contract, at twice the cost of the recommended contractors, to Caribbean Basin Enterprises which had no previous experience with sewerage systems.

The report also questioned why the company ignored the recommendations that hookup to the system be mandatory, that there be a fee system to defray costs of the sewerage treatment program, and that a grease traps be installed. The grease traps were suggested because of the large number of restaurants feeding into this sewerage system. Grease that is not removed separately can block and damage parts of the treatment facility and have apparently already created numerous problems in the initial phase of operation of the system.

I found that Tortolan's are kind and delicate in their use of the English language. For example, a manager at the Moorings yacht charter company (where I procured my 38 foot Beneteau sloop for the research on CZM in this area) warned us at the captains briefing that we should keep an eye on our dinghy's (the inflatable boat that comes with each sailboat and that is used to explore and go to shore) because he said "there have been issues with dinghy's there." He did not say "people have been stealing dinghies and their outboards" which was in fact the problem.

Likewise I found that people were very discreet in describing the possible problems of the Cane Garden Bay sewage treatment contract controversy. The same was true when I asked people about the continuous financial problems with the new Tortola (Beef Island) international airport construction, which has again stopped (the old airport is so charming that I secretly hope the new one will not be put into operation). People with whom I spoke were also evasive (or were willing to give the benefit of the doubt) on the question of why the brand new bridge from the airport (i.e. from Beef Island) across the marsh connecting to the main road to the Capital city of Road Town is not in operation (the access to the bridge has not been completed and the hillside keeps sliding down and creating all kinds of problems).

Whatever the case may be, the sewage problems at Cane Garden are merely one small example (and not a very dangerous one at that - I dove my anchor when I brought my boat into the the harbor recently with no noticeable negative effects and the beach at Cane Garden is beautiful and widely used) of the type of structural, systems, and process problems that must be faced in the design and implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management.

Sources: Local newspapers and interviews.