Editorial: The untold damage to the USVI's economy in WAPA's wake—Part 1
After decades as the sole electricity company in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the infrastructure, executives, and bank accounts supporting the Virgin Islands Water Authority have buckled under its weight.
“I been in jail for years and WAPA still like this? This is unbelievable!”
One of my older brothers said something like this in 2010 after he was released on probation from the Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility & Detention Center in St. Croix.
Every time I think about that exchange with my brother and the events that led up to one of WAPA’s most intense operational failures during the 2010s, I laugh. Sometimes hysterically.
I’m not sure why I laugh at this entire period, but 2010 really was a stupid year to be a public school student in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Both islands also suffered a months-long water crisis.
Maybe the laughter is for coping, releasing the trauma, or reliving actual comedy. During this time, the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority spent weeks rotating electricity for St. Thomas and St. John.
Hurricane Earl
On August 30th, 2010, Hurricane Earl impacted St. Thomas and St. John as a Category 3 and later intensified into a Category 4 as it re-entered the North Atlantic Ocean. Earl felt like an insignificant tropical cyclone compared to more powerful storms affecting the region. Still, the storm caused a combined $44.98 million in damages across five countries in the Western Hemisphere.
By September, Earl made landfall in Canada as a Category 1 hurricane before frigid Arctic air weakened it and forced the system to break apart.
The American Meteorological Society published a fascinating paper titled “Multiscale Structure and Evolution of Hurricane Earl (2010) during Rapid Intensification.”
The first day of school for the 2010-2011 school year in the St. Thomas/St. John school district was postponed for several days when Hurricane Earl made landfall. The storm caused significant damage to roadways and power lines, and thousands of residents across both islands were left without power for up to a week.
In September, after the hurricane caused damage across U.S. territories and several states, President Barack Obama signed a major disaster declaration to support recovery efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Months later, in March, the Federal Emergency Management Agency granted $555,219 in public assistance funding to cover the costs from Earl in the territory.
From Summer Shortages to Operational Crisis
The territory experienced drought conditions in 2010. Earlier that year, issues with the power plant’s generating capacity impacted the amount of water WAPA produced for St. Thomas and St. John.
During this time, WAPA executives scrambled to get the lights back on and were left with one choice to supply fresh water to homes and businesses: rationing water for thousands of residents.
When my brother said this was “unbelievable,” I remember thinking, “Yeah, but it’s happening.” For days, residents of the Bovoni Housing Community (the projects) walked up and down several flights of stairs with buckets and bottles filled with water.
The water residents in the Bovoni Housing Community collect comes from massive cisterns below each of the five buildings. Each stairway has a hatch on the bottom floor, where freshwater is stored underground.
Decades ago, when invasive pigeons arrived in the territory, housing communities like Bovoni and Ras Valley switched to potable water. With the cisterns untouched and collecting water for years, residents in Bovoni use ropes and buckets to extract water when service is cut-off.
Residents use bleach and products like Detol to rid the water of bacteria and harmful microbes. However, after years of neglect, the cisterns pose a health crisis for renters who rely on them during emergencies.
My siblings, nieces, nephews, and my mom carried gallons of water up to the fourth floor every day. It’s probably why my brother was the only one really outraged about the state of everything.
The events of 2010 weren’t normal or acceptable; that year represented a breaking point for WAPA. That year, WAPA’s infrastructure showed critical weaknesses that would be exacerbated just seven years later.
At the time, the Government of the Virgin Islands estimated that ship cancellations caused $10 million in losses and economic losses throughout the territory.
We Only Went to School to Charge Our Devices
It took nearly a week for WAPA’s power plant on St. Thomas to supply enough power to support scheduled rotations.
When schools reopened, our senior class at Ivanna Eudora Kean started the first day with wrinkled clothes, bed hair, and dead phones.
Because schools and businesses had first priority during the scheduled rotations, most of us only attended school for the first few days to recharge our phones and see our friends.
WAPA has had worse days than August 30th, 2010, but the past few years have been particularly erratic for residents. Hurricane Earl was a powerful yet insignificant hurricane. However, it spared a lot of lives and properties as it blasted toward The North Pole.
Earl also warned the territory about the state of WAPA’s power grid nearly a decade before Hurricanes Irma and Maria changed everything.