Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation

The U.S. Virgin Islands has a complicated past with wastewater management, mitigation, and compliance. Since 1984 the Territory has been involved in numerous consent decrees and emergency hearings regarding wastewater pollution and violations of the Clean Water Act. In St. Croix, roughly half of the population relies on the centralized sewer system managed by the Virgin Islands Management Authority (VIWMA) while the other half relies on moderately to poorly functioning septic systems. Both the centralized and residential systems are prone to failure for a variety of reasons from outdated infrastructure to poor soil suitability. These failures cause raw sewage to enter the environment and coastal waters via groundwater or stormwater runoff. The impacts of this wastewater - or raw sewage - on St. Croix's coastal ecosystems can have powerfully negative social and environmental impacts.

Coral reefs are particularly sensitive to changing water conditions and thrive in clear water conditions. The pathogens and inorganic nutrients present in wastewater can have a myriad of impacts on corals' ability to reproduce, grow, and ultimately thrive. The Territory's corals are additionally compounded by global stressors such as climate change and the recent regional outbreak of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in 2019. Global or regional stressors are important considerations when understanding corals' resilience and health; however, managing such stressors can be daunting. That's why it is vital to focus on local stressors that can be managed in order to provide a more suitable environment for corals to combat global and regional stressors.