Cruise ships would not have been able to visit St. George's this summer unless a new sewage system - which was unveiled yesterday - had been installed.

The $200,000 pumping system should avert the danger of waste spilling over into the harbour when cruise ships are unloading their effluent.

The system has flooded over into the harbour repeatedly over the years, and St. George's Town Manager Lance Furbert revealed yesterday that the Old Town would not have been able to take cruise ships this year unless the new system was installed.

Cruise ships account for about 60 percent of the sewage pumped into St. George's, and Government came up with the cash for the new pumps to avert a disaster for the local economy.

"We were at the point were we would have had to say we can't have cruise ships this year because we can't accommodate the sewage they are putting out," Mr. Furbert told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

"That would have been disastrous for the business community and fortunately the Ministry of Tourism recognised the problem and got together with the Ministry of Transport and made the funds available to us."

The four new pumps - which have a computerised alarm warning of potential over-spills - and fresh pipe-works started working at Market Wharf yesterday morning, and Mr. Furbert revealed the town was living on a wing a prayer from the start of the cruise season until now.

"There were occasional spills and we had to bring in sanitation trucks to pump it out. It was very stressful and if something went wrong we would have had no opportunity to fix it. We were a few inches from it spilling over into the harbour," said Mr. Furbert.

Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown, who helped unveil the new pump with Premier Jennifer Smith and Mayor Henry Hayward, said: "The issue of the sewage disposal system in the town has been unresolved for some time, and in an effort to avert any disaster to the environment of the town and to ensure that this treasured World Heritage Site continues to enjoy its well-earned reputation, we took a proactive stance and made St. George's the number one priority.

"This initiative was on time, on budget and is operational, thereby facilitating the smooth accommodation of our cruise industry partners who provide a great contribution to the economy of the town."