St. Martinville – St. Martin Parish President Pete Delcambre told the Board of Directors for Consolidated Water District No. 4 that parish engineers and attorneys are reviewing the final lease agreement and servitude for a new water well, a key step in the consolidation plan for the St. Martinville, St. Martin Parish Water District No. 4 (Catahoula area) and St. Martin Parish Industrial Park water systems.
The engineers and attorneys are trying to ensure that everything is in place for the new well project to begin, Delcambre said at the board’s monthly meeting held on May 7.
Delcambre explained that the processing of the new well will begin once the lease agreement is signed.
Pamela Granger of McBade Engineers and Consultants said that engineers are awaiting final design approval for the well bids.
Delcambre also discussed a resolution introduced by the St. Martin Parish Council that authorizes Delcambre and St. Martin Parish Government to execute and administer contracts and projects on the water sector program and water system improvements project on behalf of the consolidated waterworks district.
The parish is matching funds for the consolidation, Delcambre said, and he wants to ensure that the matched funds are being spent diligently The board later unanimously approved the adoption of the resolution after a discussion.
Each water system will remain separate until the consolidation goes into effect, Delcambre said, and St. Martin Parish Director of Administration Raymond Bernard Jr. will begin devising a new Consolidated Water District 4 business plan before going to the consolidated board for transition.
Well
St. Martinville Mayor Jason Willis asked if the time frame for the transition remained the same or if anything had changed. Delcambre said that the time frame has remained the same, but he mentioned the need for a game plan once all electronic meters have been installed.
Willis said that he will begin informing customers of the transition and changes to billing once it is near.
St. Martin Parish Water District 4 Manager Ronald Daigle said that the system had no significant issues with recent weather. He also said that there haven’t been any significant issues with water quality.
Mr. Daigle explained that they had one dirty water call, which was promptly taken care of.
St. Martinville Water Manager Jonathan Vining said that a leak on Jefferson Street caused a boil water advisory. The area couldn’t be isolated after turning off multiple valves.
Vining said that the day after the leak on Jefferson Street, a communication issue caused low pressure. The problem was handled promptly, he said, and pressure was returned to the system. Server issues caused the issue with the SCADA contractors for the City of St. Martinville.
Vining said that an electrical engineer is still completing work at the city water plant and is working on the revisions for installing two variable-frequency drives at the existing wells.
The city has received complaints about the corrosiveness of the water and the mayor requested that zinc orthophosphate be introduced at the water plant to prevent further corrosion. The city is still awaiting quotes for that, Vining said.
The city also has hired another Class 3 Operator. Vining said that the new employee has extensive experience and would significantly add to the city and the consolidated district waterworks departments.
St. Martinville’s water system received a “D” grade on the Grade Rule according to the Accountability Rule.
The state Department of Health Safe Drinking Water Program developed the accountability system to provide for the issuance of a letter grade reflective of community water system quality and performance.
Vining said that issues with infrastructure funding led to the deduction of 29 of the 36 points on the grading scale.
Vining said that these 29 points should be resolved with projects completed in the consolidation effort.
Delcambre asked about issues such as isolating significant areas when leaks exist and said that the isolation valves being installed must be strategic as part of Project 5A.
Delcambre asked if more isolation valves would be needed in the future and Vining said that he understands that the 23 insertion valves being installed as part of project 5A will only isolate the city into two halves.
Vining said that he has begun finding valves and will work on plans to isolate smaller areas. Delcambre said that the City of St. Martinville and the Parish need to work on isolating smaller areas for leaks.
Engineering updates Granger told the board that McBade Engineers will begin advertising the well project bids once it is approved.
Engineer Jeremy Fontenot will submit plans for the new well project in the upcoming weeks, she said.
McBade is the firm the City of St. Martinville uses for its water projects.
Sellers and Associates Engineer Nick Sonnier said that the contractors have begun the demolition/ restoration of the St. Martin Parish Water Plant. He also described the policy for money acquisition and the submittal process.
Sellers & Associates is used by the parish for the water consolidation project.
Sonnier said that auditors were given all the data needed to assess rates and that any approved rates must align with the rates the auditors provided.
He explained that proper rates must meet the total operation cost of the audit.
The board discussed the number of industrial customers throughout all systems and how usage and rates would be adopted for commercial and industrial customers.
The board also discussed changing customer rates across all consolidated systems. Delcambre said the board must assess rates charged by neighboring systems.
A resolution adopting water rates was tabled until the next meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, June 24.
All future monthly meetings will be on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m.
