On today's NewsFeed, Andrew Smith, Executive Director of the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, talks about the brown water issues facing residents on St. Croix. Amid a 300% rate increase from the Department of Sports Park and Recreations, cruise ship vendors are seeking help, we speak with an affected vendor. Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett issues a statement regarding the escalating conflicts in Gaza. Click "listen" for these stories and more.
TRANSCRIPT:
Over the weekend, the Coral Bay Community Council issued a press release informing the public that coastal water testing was done in Coral Bay, Saint John on October 31st, 2022. Speaking with Sharon Cauldren, voluntary executive director for the council, she provided details on the testing. We sampled 11 points in Coral Harbor and Johnson Bay because these are the areas that people within Coral Bay go to Wade, swim and boat and we wanted to be sure and to double check that the waters are clean as DPNR and the national Park Service before DPNR had said that they were for many years.
We asked what prompted the further testing to be done outside of the quarterly testing done by the Department of Planning and Natural Resources? A couple of things. For one, the sargassum coming into the harbor creates a lot of odors and concerns by people, as it should, and is, in fact when it's heavy, will show poor water quality testing.
But when it's not there, the water is clean. So this was brought up at a community meeting in July of 2022, actually a while ago. And we committed that we would spend some of CBCs resources to do more testing than the just two testing points that the government uses. So we went ahead and did another eight or so testing points.
Speaking on the results of the test, the results of the tests was that they all turned out to be ten or less and ten parts per million of the Enterococci bacteria that they use as a testing measure and up to 70 parts per million is is considered safe for human contact. So you can see that it was it wasn't even close to the concern level, which was great news here.
And I think it speaks to the fact that the bay is very alive with many marine creatures sea turtles, dolphins, fish. It's a nursery area and it's highly valued by the people of Coral Bay, everybody, and we'll keep watching it. We asked of the council had plans to conduct further testing. We do. We're working right now with the University of the Virgin Islands to do another round of testing when it suits their school schedule.
Before ending our interview, Ms. Cauldron relayed a message to the community. Asking everyone to participate in the beach cleanups that are happening this coming week on Saint John, because all of that helps to keep debris out of the water, plastics and other things like that. People can see the information on CBC Facebook page and also on the Friends of Friends on National Park Facebook page.
Where to Go could help all public schools and the Saint Croix District were closed today due to the annual TEACH Professional Development Conference. Schools will reopen tomorrow, on Tuesday, October 17th, and operate on their regular schedules, with the exception of schools on abbreviated schedules. Eulalie Rivera K through 8 school will operate from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. The Saint Croix Central High School will operate from 7:40 a.m. to 1:05 p.m..
The Saint Croix Educational Complex and Career and Technical Education Center will both operate from 7:40 a.m. to 1:05 p.m. and the John H. Woodson Junior High School will continue virtual instruction from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.. Details for report card distribution in the same Croix district include. Wednesday, October 18th. Ricardo Richards Elementary School Pearl B. Larsen K through 8 School.
Eulalie Rivera pre-K through 8 school. Alfredo Andrew's pre-K through 6 and the Juanita Guardian pre-K through 8. On Thursday, October 19th, the St. Croix Central High School, the St. Croix Educational Complex and the Lew Muckle K through 6 school. On Friday, October 20th, the Claude O’ Markoe pre-K through 6th school and also the John H. Woodson Junior High School report cards will be distributed electronically. This fall
Middle school students throughout the territory will have the opportunity to participate in the Math Counts Competition series. We spoke with St Croix district coordinator Juanita Boneke to tell us about the competition. Math Course is really a program where we try to encourage junior high students and we call them middle school students in grades six through eight in hopes that we could encourage them to get more involved in math and practice their skills and not and continue with math with enthusiasm of liking math. The Math counts program is open to all schools. Public, private and parochial schools across the territory are encouraged to register at www.mathcounts.org. As we make our way down the WTJX News Feed, it's time now for the Regional report. Last Thursday, federal agents seized an estimated $35 million worth of cocaine from a boat that ran aground a reef on Puerto Rico's south coast.
Reporting from the AP News says that two men from the Dominican Republic and a man from Colombia were arrested and accused of transporting more than 3300 pounds of cocaine, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Officials say the 30 foot boat was traveling north towards Puerto Rico when it was spotted on Wednesday. It is one of the largest drug seizures in waters off Puerto Rico reported this year.
In 2021, a record $50 million worth of cocaine was seized off the island's southeast region. We're turning now to the territory's weather forecast. Here's the look at the latest short term forecast for the Virgin Islands. I'm meteorologist Eric Weglarz The excessive heat warning does continue, will find the chance for a few. Scattered showers continue this afternoon under mostly sunny skies across St. Croix.
Highs of reach the lower to middle nineties with heat index values as high as 110 across Saint Thomas and Saint John, it'll be a mostly sunny day with a few scattered showers towards sunset. Temperatures reached the lower to middle nineties. Heat index values as high as 113 towards sunset. Scattered showers will taper off overnight into Tuesday across Saint Croix.
Lows will fall back to near 80. We'll find a mostly clear night across Saint Thomas and saint john. Those are very similar. Near 80. It's mostly sunny during the day on Tuesday with highs reaching the lower nineties across Saint Croix. Heat index values as high as 108 in the afternoon and at Saint Thomas and Saint John. Temperatures are a few degrees cooler in the lower to middle nineties.
Heat index values as high as 110. Excessive heat likely to continue in the afternoon then that's a look at your latest forecast meteorologist Eric Weglarz. We are at the end of today's WTJX News Feed. I’m Marcellina Ventura-Douglas. Join me every weekday at 5 p.m. Be sure to download the WTJX app and if you miss a part of our news, listen to it on demand wherever you get your podcasts.
