As a result, water levels in Great Salt Pond are about one metre above acceptable flood levels and already spilling over onto low-lying areas around the pond. Ministry of VROMI Maintenance Department head Claudius Buncamper explained that the pump had been running 24 hours a day over the past three weeks due to sudden heavy rainfall. Personnel also have been working 12- to 14-hour days over the same period.
The volume of water was so great on Saturday night that water ran over the banks of Rolandus Canal, Buncamper explained. The Great Bay channel was opened, as is customary, but with the pump out of commission water cannot be moved from Great Salt Pond to Fresh Pond to lower the level in Great Salt Pond.
According to Buncamper, the floodgates also cannot be opened, as the level of water in Fresh Pond is not low enough compared to that of Great Salt Pond. This means that if the floodgates were opened water would flow back into Great Salt Pond and without the pump would flood Philipsburg in its entirety.
Buncamper said the parts needed to repair the pump had to be flown in and would be on-island by Tuesday through the cooperation of Michael Ferrier and NAPA.
To compensate, though very little, the Fire Department made its small pump available to move water from Great Salt Pond to Fresh Pond.
In addition, a worker at the pump station in Sucker Garden was injured on Saturday night when a vibrating cover on the pump he was trying to repair came loose, struck him on the head and knocked him unconscious. He was taken to St. Maarten Medical Center for treatment and since has been discharged.
The situation with the pump re-enforces the urgent need for new storm-water pumps, for which Minister responsible for infrastructure Theo Heyliger already has signed and broken ground on. Three new storm-water pump facilities will be available soon to handle floodwater in the Philipsburg and surrounding areas.
Two of the new pumps will be located in a new pump-house to be constructed at the Public Works work yard on Pond Island and the third will replace the current pump in Sucker Garden. The first two will be able to pump a maximum of 24,000 gallons of water per minute and the third 50,000 gallons of water per minute.
The current situation also highlights the importance of the Minister's ongoing infrastructure projects, which have as primary goal the provision of proper drainage in the districts.
"There are those who can get up on the floor of Parliament and question these projects and call them unnecessary, but all we need to do is look at the state of our infrastructure with the heavy rainfall lately to understand why the projects are important," Heyliger said on Sunday night.
Heyliger said it was unfortunate that some could only see and understand the urgency when there was an imminent threatening situation.
"It's about the bigger picture and planning. It's about short-term inconveniences for long-term benefit. The next time these projects are criticised as unnecessary, I hope those making the comments think about the folks in Dutch Quarter, Middle Region, Cole Bay, Cay Bay and even Philipsburg whose homes are under threat," he said.
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