– The City of St. Martinville recently faced chlorine issues on the north and east areas of the city served by the city’s water system, which has since been cleared up.
St. Martinville water system manager Jonathan Vining told the Consolidated Water District No. 4 board at its meeting this past Tuesday that the city began getting dirty water calls on the north end of town after flushing the system for about a week, combined with high chlorine levels and low water pressure issues.
The city contacted Water District 4 supervisor Ronald Daigle and the parish, because the parish had provided water to the city when there was a rupture in St. Martinville’s main line off Aubrey Ozenne Road in late June. Vining said he was able to turn the valve that had been opened by the parish to provide water to the city about a half turn before it stopped, but the city was still getting a lot of high residuals readings on that end of town.
The city then contacted the state, as it is required to do when there are water quality issues, and the state tested both the water quality issue and the valve.
“They said everything seemed to be fine with the valve, and they verified that, yes, this is definitely water that’s getting in from the parish,” Vining said.
Vining said that he and the superintendent went back to the valve on Sept. 12 and really worked to close the valve as tightly as they could.
“Ever since, every problem we’ve been having has gone away,” Vining said. “The chlorine has come up. The issues with the pressure is a lot better to the east side of the system.”
Board member Danny Bulliard, who had reported low pressure in the water system at Cajun Chef’s facility, reported that water pressure is now higher.
Parish President Pete Delcambre asked Daigle if the Water District 4 system had been having water quality issues that could have leaked into the St. Martinville system.
“Nothing significant, but we do run a higher chlorine residual … which is recorded by the state, too,” Daigle said.
Daigle said that a three-quarter turn on the valve shouldn’t have made a huge difference, though perhaps there was residual water left in the lines between the city and parish that moved into the city somehow.
“When the valve was closed, in my opinion it wasn’t leaking,” Daigle said.
Delcambre then asked if the valve was closed correctly for two months, why the city suddenly began having water quality issues.
Vining said that the city has begun using a water from the Vivien Street elevated tank, which is not as tall as the Denbas Street tower and therefore provides less water pressure.
“I think it’s because when we were on Denbas tower we had 65, 67 PSI,” Vining said. “Now that we’re on Vivien tower, we have 45 to 49 PSI, so you have more pressure fighting against it (using the Denbas tower) if you did have some seepage. With that lower tower, you have less pressure and it wasn’t enough to fight against the pressure coming from that side. That’s the only thing that makes sense in my mind.”
Delcambre said that was just conjecture .
“My position is, it’s done, and everything’s moving on,” Delcambre said.
In other matters, the board approved a resolution authorizing board chair Donnie Laviolette to enter into an agreement for a board liability insurance policy, which had been discussed at earlier meetings.
Water
The board also was updated on the status of the projects being undertaken by contractors including installation of billing software in the Catahoula water district, and the scheduling of installation of shutoff valves and water meters throughout the three systems.
The start of sugar cane grinding season also is under way at the Louisiana Sugar Cane Cooperative, Daigle said. The mill is using about 400,000 gallons of water a day, with a peak usage so far of about 695,000 gallons.
Delcambre reported to the board that negotiations with the Billeaud Companies for the lease of land for a new water well to be used by the consolidated water system. Attorneys for both sides have looked over the agreement.
“I’m hoping that before the end of the week, possibly, that we get some confirmation that the lease is ready to be signed,” Delcambre said.
The board has already passed a resolution giving Laviolette the ability to sign the lease agreement once it is finalized.
Delcambre said that the parish is working to get servitude rights with other property owners between the Billeaud property and the road where the new well will tie into the current water lines and those also should be completed soon.
