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Newsletter of the VJ. Plaaning Office and the V.J. Water Resources Research Center ein Istengg ya | UG Caribbéan Research Institute College of the Virgin islands, St.Thomas, US.Virgin Islands 00801 » 809/774-1252 Ext. 250 4 Vol. 2 No. 5 Sept. - Oct. 1979 REPORT PUBLISHED Technical Report #4, "Sequential Use of Reclaimed Wastewater Des- tined for Aquifer Recharge," was recently published by the Water Resources Research Center. The report summarizes a project partly funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of the In- terior, Office of Water Research and Technology. The project in- vestigated reclaimed wastewater as an additional source of water on St. Croix. Effluent from the 0.5 million gallon per day advanced waste- water treatment plant at Estate Bethlehem Middle Works was used to recharge aquifers at Negro Bay and Golden Grove through use of spreading basins. The quality of water as well as static levels of wells in the recharge area were monitored to determine the effect of recharge operations. The report concludes that there was a significant increase in the quantity of water in the aquifers as well as an upgrading in the quality of the effluent. In addition, an economic analy- sis showed the cost of recharge/ recovery operations to be signi- ficantly less than the cost of desalination of sea water. Copies of the report may be obtained by writing or calling the Water Center. GAO SUPPORTS SEPTIC SYSTEMS Septic systems, the most widely used wastewater disposal system in private homes in the V.I., have often been questioned as a safe, reliable, non- polluting method of wastewater dis- posal. Recently though, General Accounting Office (GAO) investigators have asserted that the EPA should make a greater effort to promote sep- tic systems. The GAO in their report said that when septic systems are properly designed and operated, they should not fail and should be "as permanent as central treatment faci- lities." The GAO report recommends that the EPA set minimum standards for public management of septic sys- tems and "emphasize to public entities that grant assistance is available for major rehabilitation and upgrading of septic systems." This report should provide beneficial information to septic system users in the V.I. as to the effectiveness of their systems. Copies of the GAO report (CED-78-168) are available from GAO Distribution Section, Rocm, 1518, 441 G. Street N.W., Washington, D.C, 20548. AN INTERESTING REGULATION The Environmental Protection Agency has issued regulations stipulating that any residential water use greater than 70 gallons per day must be ISlands," to be carried out by the engineering firm of Coffin and Richardson, Boston, Mass., in cooperation with the Water Center. The research will address the specific problem of extreme scarcity of water in the Virgin Islands as well as the more gen- eral problem of how best to manage limited water resources in small island communities. The complexity of the problem is due to physical and environ- mental conditions which limit the availability of on-island supply, the wide variety of water sources (desalting, ground- water, catchments, barging), un- certain demand, sharply rising costs and the need to preserve delicate island environments. A major component of the study will be a survey to identify how various sectors of the com- munity value and use fresh water for a variety of purposes. Fur- ther refinement of demand figures for the Virgin Island is anti- cipated but, more significantly, the survey will attempt to identify attitudes toward water conservation and opportunities for implementing a conservation program. The study will be carried out in close coordination with current efforts of other local and fed- eral agencies involved with water. Any persons wishing to contri- bute to the survey aspect of the study as respondents are urged to contact the Water Resources Research Center by mail (College of the V.I., St. Thomas) or by phone, 774-1252 ext. 250 or 251. WAA TA‘ STATISTICS Sometimes to really appreciate the amount of rainfall during a period, it is helpful to convert inches to gallons or some other readily conceived unit. We will do this for the recent tropical storm Frederick. Reports from scattered areas around the V.I. indicated that in some places approximately 14 inches of rain fell between August 31 and September 7. Our calculations suggest that this amounted to at least 32,200 million gallons of rainfall in the V.I. If we assume 7.4 mgd to be the water that Frederick brought and protec-— ted it from evaporation, seepage, runoff, etc., then there would have been enough water to supply the needs of the islands for about 435 days. To store this water in one place would have required a struc- ture having a base of one square mile to be as tall as a 15-story building. Rainfall in Inches St. Croix Aug. Sept. A.H. Airport 1.52 30.05 East End 1.47 --- Little Fountain 2357 47.78 St. Thomas: Red Hook 7.44 17.57 Estate Hope 9.33: 14.17 St. John: . Cruz Bay -- 16.22 Catherineberg 7.58 17.45 BULLOCK JOINS STAFF Donald C. Bullock, a mechanical engi- neer, has joined the staff of the Water Center as a short-term consultant. Mr. Bullock was previously associated with testing of seawater reverse osmosis equipment at the West Indies Laboratory on St. Croix, and design and introduction of the first small standardized seawater RO plants for a California based firm, Having lived in the Virgin Islands for much of the last several years, he is familiar with many of the water pro- blems unique to these islands. His assignments for the WRRC will include an analysis of water usage patterns.