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OYSTER POND--A mystery overflow pipe that does not feature in the sewage and drainage plans of Etablissement des Eaux et Assainissement de St. Martin (EEASM) was the cause of the recent sewage spill into the pond at Captain Oliver's Marina, EEASM president Louis Fleming disclosed Monday.
"The pipe has now been blocked by the maintenance company Général des Eaux and there should not be any re-occurrence," Fleming said. "This pipe does not appear on our original plans and we are investigating how this pipe got there and which contractor is responsible. It must have been there for many years and why the spill happened now and not before is a mystery."
Fleming and a team from EEASM went to the marina to investigate based on information provided by Scuba Shop owner Peter Frye who pointed out where the sewage spill was coming from, behind his shop in the mangroves.
Fleming explained that the sewage pump itself near the marina has an overflow pipe but it was noticed that the sewage level never reached to the overflow level.
"From that we knew that the overflow was not coming from our station. Then there is a manhole for a collection pit about a metre away and when we opened that we discovered this pipe that theoretically does not exist. We did a sewage test with water to make it come up to the level of overflow and we saw that water was going through that non-existing pipe."
He added that prior inspection of the two main pumps in that area of Oyster Pond showed them to be functioning normally with no overflows or spills.
"From our side all our pipelines are perfect," he said.
St. Maarten Nature Foundation raised the alarm on February 10 citing sewage run-off contaminating waters of the Dutch side at "an alarming rate" with up to 50 litres or more of sewage estimated to be flowing into Oyster Pond. It also provided video and photographic evidence of the spill.
Asked if there is a pollution case to be answered by a contractor because of a possible "illegal" installation, Fleming said it was too early to say and depends on the result of the investigation.
Peter Frye and Captain Oliver's Hotel and Marina owner Maggi Shurtleff thanked Fleming for his prompt attention to the problem describing the on-site meeting with EEASM as "cordial and constructive."
