Coral Bay Air Sampling

1. Coral Bay Air Sampling Coral Bay, St. John US Virgin Islands

2. The Coral Bay residential community is situated in a crescent shaped bowl formed by the bay and surrounding mountainous topography of the island.  The community is several miles southwest of the island of Tortola.

3. Mission Statement • Air sampling was performed in response to complaints by Coral Bay residents of periodic exposure to a smoke plume emanating from a burning landfill located on the neighboring island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.

4. Smoke plume from landfill fire on Tortola

5. Smoke plume as seen from St John during sampling events

6. Tortola / St John

7. Sampling Coordination • Coral Bay Community Council • USVI Department of Planning and Natural Resources • US EPA Virgin Island Coordinator’s Office • US EPA Region 2 Response and Prevention Branch • US EPA Environmental Response Team

8. Mobilization • Due to the difficulty and logistics of being in place to sample when the residents were noticing the impact of the plume, EPA performed the sampling while on location for other projects. • Air monitoring and air sampling was performed around the Coral Bay area of St. John during the weeks of September 15, 2008 and April 16, 2009.

9. Week of September 15, 2008 • Based upon prior experience gained from sampling landfill fire emissions in the USVI, the following parameters were implemented: • Air monitoring was performed for particulates. • Air sampling was performed for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), inorganic acids, mercury (Hg), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (C02), methane (CH4), total non-methane organic compounds (TNMOC) and metals.

10. Sample setup

11. Week of April 16, 2009 • This sampling event was scaled back to look for the most common landfill fire contaminants as follows: • Air monitoring was performed for particulates. • Air sampling was performed for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

12. Sampling / Monitoring • Sampling and monitoring events were staggered to capture both day and night conditions.

13. Up to five sampling locations were utilized during the sampling events. • a restaurant located at Chateau Bordeaux • a private residence located at 10-25 C Carolina • a private residence located at Majestic Mile • a private residence located at 6-3-62 Upper Carolina • and an upwind location in a vacant subdivision located at Privateer Bay Estates.

14. Sample Collection Points

15. Wind direction September 2008

16. Wind direction April 2009

17. Sampling results • No significant levels of contaminants were detected during this series of sampling events. • Wind direction was predominantly easterly dispersing the plume off to sea. • Data from these events was used to provide a baseline.

18. Conclusions • The smoke continues to be a periodic nuisance to the residents of Coral Bay. • EPA reached out to the BVI government to offer assistance with the fire issue and to make them aware of its impact on St John. • A meeting was held last month with representatives of the USVI and BVI on St John during which the BVI gave assurances that their new incinerator project is on track and will hopefully remedy the situation.

19. I knew about the donkeys,

20. But not about the St John deer