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 Coordinators 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