High Concentrations of Sargassum Affecting St. Croix Desalination Plant and Primary Source of Water, U.S. Virgin Islands

P8H6+4X Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI | 2022-Jul-27

Initial Notification: NOAA Scientific Support was requested on 27 July 2022 for a declared emergency on the USVI island of St Croix due to high concentrations of sargassum affecting the island's desalination plant and primary source of water. The SSC is coordinating with NOAA's AOML in Miami, FL to work with their sargassum distribution and inundation products to develop more focused and specific trajectory products to support this response and also better longer-term forecast and threat analyses for the future. NOAA is also coordinating with DOI and USFWS to assess risks to protected species (primarily sea turtles and manatee).