REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS + 83

become a serious and taxing problem, and the demand for new and im-
proved roads is now urgent. This year, in St. Thomas, 4.37 miles of
streets were repaired, and 9.82 miles of roads were paved. While this
represented special emphasis on road work as compared with other
fiscal years, there is much more to be done. Actually, the most logical
solution to the problem appears to be a master road plan considering
the load and volume of all types of vehicles, followed by a coordinated
program of construction.

Street Cleaning and Garbage Removal Service
 This year, the Sanitary Division in St. Thomas made appreciable
progress with the major problem of keeping the city of Charlotte
Amalie and its environs free from garbage and rubbish. This was
accomplished by the use of mechanical sweepers together with a special
dump truck which loaded and disposed of garbage collected in large
storage bins distributed throughout the island. Further improvement
was brought about by elimination of the city dump and transporting
garbage and refuse out to sea by barge. In St. Croix, five new garbage
trucks acquired during this year have greatly increased the efficiency
of the service.

Night Soil Removal Service
 Plans had been made to make connections to the sewer system
gradually, so that an orderly and complete elimination of the Night
Soil Removal Service would be accomplished by December 31, 1962.
This target date could not be met due, primarily, to refusal on the part
of owners of low-rent properties to install relatively high cost fixtures.
Progress has been too slow, even though loans were provided to assist
persons otherwise unable to make the required installations. While
some delay was occasioned by the difficulty of laying sewer lines
through rocky substrata, the general reason may be attributed to an
acute housing shortage which made it virtually impossible to relocate
tenants from areas where connections were to be made.

Water Supply
 The total annual rainfall this year was 46.95 inches as compared
 with 33.47 inches in 1961. Each year this source has to be supple-
 mented in order to meet the heavy domestic and commercial require-
 ments of the islands. In St. Thomas where the situation is especially
 serious, water has to be hauled daily from Puerto Rico by a self-
 propelled barge of approximately 250,000 gallon capacity. In addi-