Councilman says low income, Black residents hit hard by issue
St. Martinville – St.
Martin Parish Councilman Vincent Alexander asked Parish President Pete Delcambre and other members of the parish council at this past Tuesday’s council meeting for help in solving water quality issues that many residents in his district have faced for decades.
Alexander said the residents along Ches Broussard Road, in particular, are dealing with substandard water.
"You know, Ches Brous sard Road is 99 percent Black (residents) on that street,” he said. “You see, that’s the problem that I have, and it's not look ing good for the parish, you hear what I’m saying?
They need some drinking water that’s not brown water. They can’t brush their teeth. They can't drink a glass of water. Their toilet bowls are all yellow. Won’t y’all help us do something now?”
Other council members including Tangie Narcisse and Chairman Chris Tauzin said they also have constituents who face similar issues and that in 2025 that is unacceptable.
“We tried to get water in my district and Parks' water system was at max capacity,” Tauzin said. “I understand your concerns, Mr. Vincent. I think each and every one of us probably has some areas in our district that doesn’t have drinking water. And you're right. In today’s modern world, we’re spending mil- lions of dollars on fiber op tics, which is the next big thing to be able to bring business in and accommodate our citizens, but at the end of the day, drinking water is probably the most important thing you can have.”
Alexander asked about forming a water district for his area since other nearby water companies/districts don’t seem to want to or be able to expand to include those residents.
Water
“I’m talking about putting a water board in District 7 because this has probably been going on for 30 years,” Alexander said. “And when is it going to come to an end?”
Delcambre said he would have to look into the issue because he doesn’t want to give Alexander misinformation about forming a water board or a water district.
“I’d be very happy to get all the information that you request in answer to your question,” Delcambre said.
Alexander said he had asked Cecilia Water Company General Manager Bruce Guidry about expanding the company’s service to include those residents in District 7 in need of potable water.
“(He) told me that it’s not up to them to apply for a grant … he said it’s up to the parish to have to do that,” Alexander said. “The parish has to start trying to get the funds, and then if it goes for bids, they’re the only ones that can do the work for now.”
Likewise, he said, the City of Breaux Bridge’s water service ends less than a mile from his constituents’ residences.
“If the City of Breaux Bridge wants to do it, give those poor people some drinking water, then they could step to Breaux Bridge and let Breaux Bridge take it and bring them water instead of going back and forth with Cecilia water,” Alexander said.
Alexander said he spoke with Breaux Bridge Mayor Ricky Calais about the issue and he doesn’t think the city wants to extend its city limits to take in those residents.
“Maybe someone could talk to him,” Alexander said. “It’s just that I’m not satisfied with the people over there, especially on Ches Broussard Road, that don’t have potable drinking water. It’s 2025!”
Delcambre said he had talked with Guidry and that Cecilia Water would be amenable to adding those residents to their service in the event that funds become available to take in Ches Broussard residents.
Delcambre said he also spoke with Heather Paul, director of the state Division of Administration, about the possibility of having the normal matching funds required of a local government or other entity to receive state grants.
Alexander said he had been told by Guidry that under the administration of former Parish President Guy Cormier, the parish had spearheaded creating a water district, sending employees out to survey homeowners about their income and that Cormier had applied for the grants.
“It wasn’t (the water district), it was the district in St. Martin Parish, that’s how they got the money,” Alexander said. “That’s why I’m meeting with Bruce Guidry next week. I’m getting conflicting information right here.”
Tauzin said the other members of the parish council want to make sure all residents have potable water.
“We agree with you,” Tauzin said. “That’s why we reached out. We need to find out if Cecilia is even capable of expanding their system into that area.”
Tauzin noted that the consolidation process that the parish is involved in, which combines the parish’s Industrial Park water system, the Water District 4 (Catahoula) system and the St. Martinville city water system, is costing more than $14 million to achieve.
“I can tell you from representing the people in Catahoula with their water system when we had all the issues with the system, we tried to see if we could get some grants or anything we could’ve done to help improve that water system, and we couldn’t do it,” Tauzin said.
But even efforts by a Breaux Bridge native who worked in the Trump administration at the time couldn’t get grants approved because Catahoula household income was too high at the time, Tauzin said.
“It shouldn’t go according to income,” Tauzin. “It should go to where everybody should have available drinking water. But we’re going to try. We’re going to do what we can to see what we can get done.”
Alexander said he fields a lot of phone calls from people with substandard water, and he understands why they’re calling.
“I don’t blame them for calling me, because everybody wants drinking water that’s not brown water,” he said. “Every time they open a faucet, the water is brown. I hope we can get together, the whole council, to help those people.”
Delcambre said that the type of survey of residents that Alexander described happening under Cormier’s administration is part of the process of finding out the income and racial makeup of residents in a district, which often helps in gaining grant money that has match money either subsidized by the state or waived by the state, so that a project is 100 percent funded by state grants. Heather Paul is looking into whether that could be the case for those St. Martin residents that Alexander is talking about, Delcambre said.
Councilwoman Carla JeanBatiste suggested that Alexander get in touch with former Police Juror/Parish Councilman Thomas Nelson, who led a movement to form a water district in District 2, which JeanBatiste now represents. Nelson led a group of constituents walking door-to-door to see if residents were willing to pay a deposit to create matching funds for a grant to develop their own water district, which led to the formation of the district that serves that community.
After the water district became its own separate entity, it applied for loans through the Rural Water (Association) to continue to grow.
Alexander said the first thing that’s needed is to apply for grant money. He offered to go to UL Lafayette to talk to grant writers there to work on it.
Alexander said that if something doesn’t happen soon he’s going to call the news media including Lafayette TV stations and newspapers to publicize the issue.
Tauzin said it’s important for Alexander to remember that the parish can’t use public money for a private entity like the Cecilia Water Company.
Alexander was also advised to get the state representative from the area to help get funding as well.
Creating a whole new water district is one of those options, but it won’t be known if that is possible until it is tried.
“It sounds to me like everybody in this room is willing to work and try to see if we can help assist those people to get some water,” Tauzin said.
Delcambre added that Guidry told him it was possible to expand the Cecilia water system in phases, and that beginning with the Ches Broussard area since it is closer and more populated. But it would have to be done by phasing in sections, with the first step being to get funding.
