November 24, 2000

Carl Soderberg, Director

Caribbean Environmental Protection Program

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1492 Ponce De Leon Avenue

Suite 417

San Juan, Puerto Rico 00907-4127

Re: Waivers from Secondary Treatment Requirements Under CWA Section 301(h) in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Dear Mr. Sonderberg:

Please enter into the public record for the above-referenced matters these comments of Environmental Defense, on behalf of our almost 300,000 members nationwide, and in support of partner organizations in the Virgin Islands. We urge you to deny – as you have proposed – the requested waivers from the Clean Water Act’s general requirement for secondary sewage treatment for both the Saint Thomas and Saint Croix sewage treatment plants. However, we also urge your agency – in the strongest possible terms – to help find the resources to remediate the very serious problems related to inadequate treatment and bypassing of sewage on these two islands.

The current situation is intolerable. For decades the United States has treated both the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico as poor relations in terms of public investment in water and sewer infrastructure. The failure to achieve even barely adequate standards in sewage treatment, and the pending secondary waiver applications from both governments, has resulted directly from this neglect.

As the work of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force has made clear, the coral reefs and ecologically linked ecosystems in U.S. Caribbean are among America’s crown jewels. These marine ecosystems also serve as critically important "essential fish habitats (EFH)," as defined by the Magnuson-Stevens Sustainable Fisheries Act and the Caribbean Fisheries Management Council (CFMC). These fragile resources deserve the investment of disproportionate levels of public funding, and require special care in assessing federal actions that threaten them.

In addition to the coral reefs themselves, the CFMC has formally identified EFH in the U.S. Caribbean to include salt marshes, mangrove wetlands, intertidal flats/salt ponds, soft bottom lagoons, mud flats, sandy beaches, rocky shores, sea grass, non-

Mr. Carl Soderberg

November 21, 2000

Page 2

vegetated bottoms, algal plains, live bottoms, geologic features and the water column. The CFMC also identified for special protection the most important subsets of EFH, termed "habitat areas of particular concern (HAPCs)," including estuaries and nearshore reefs and other hard bottoms (NMFS, 1999; CFMC 1998). Other HAPCs are likely to be designated in the coming months; they will undoubtedly include other specific categories of habitat types, as well as known spawning aggregation sites for reef fishes. (Hind Bank is also designated as an HAPC by the CFMC.)

Moreover, recent analyses of habitat use patterns among reef fishes (e.g., Lindeman et al., 2000) make clear that most species utilize a variety of habitats during their life histories, including shallow-water hard and soft substrates that are quite sensitive to damage from inadequately treated sewage. Protecting and restoring reef-associated systems will require special care to address threats to the full array of marine and estuarine habitat types in the region.

Many of these habitats are threatened directly and indirectly by failure to adequately treat sewage. Direct impacts of inadequately treated sewage include effects on demersal, planktonic and benthic fishes and invertebrates, mediated by toxicants, oxygen-demanding substances, nutrients and pathogens. Impacts on sensitive larval stages may be particularly acute. Impacts of nutrient enrichment on naturally nutrient-poor, but productive reef habitats can be profound, inducing ecological cascades driven by alteration of algal and macrophytic plant communities.

Impacts on local human populations also can result from bypassing and inadequate treatment of human wastes. Both the direct livelihood and the economic future of many Virgin islanders are directly dependent on high quality marine environments.

Waivers under 301(h) can only be granted under a variety of conditions that are presumed to protect important ecological functions, and which protect human health. Among many other things, affected areas must maintain water quality adequate to support "balanced, indigenous populations of shellfish, fish and wildlife," and "allow recreational activities, in and on the water." (33 USC 1311 (h)(2)) As demonstrated clearly in the attached technical comments, no evidence exists that those requirements have been or can be met in the case of either Virgin Islands WWTP. The waiver requests must be denied.

At a larger scale, the time has come – finally – to commit to accepting and fulfilling our nation’s role as stewards of the wondrous marine ecosystems of the U.S. Caribbean. This can only be achieved by bringing the standards for sewage treatment and other pollution control programs up to and then beyond national norms. Building workable

Mr. Carl Soderberg

November 21, 2000

Page 3

partnerships with local governments and local people requires an investment. Deny the waivers – but help also solve the problems!

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Sincerely,

Douglas N. Rader, Ph.D. Daniel J. Whittle

Senior Scientist Senior Attorney

Attachment