St. Martinville – St. Martin Parish Council Chairman Chris Tauzin offered a suggestion to the Board of Directors for the St. Martin Parish Consolidated Water District No. 4 that could provide better quality water to residents of the Catahoula area during this past Tuesday’s Consolidated Water District board meeting.
Tauzin said that if the state allows it and if the City of St. Martinville is capable of doing so, the board should allow the city to begin supplying water to Catahoula customers before the final consolidation of the three water systems involved in the consolidation process that is planned to be completed by the end of the year.
“That last couple of months the water’s been bad, really bad,” Tauzin said. “Our goal has always been to give somebody good water, because you can live without food but you can’t live without water. When somebody’s got to mix formula for their babies and the water’s as bad as it is, we need to try to address it as quickly as possible.
“I know we’re moving forward. I know Pete (Delcambre, Parish President) is moving to get things done. I think what we need to do is as soon as we can, and as soon as both (St. Martinville) wells are up and running … my question is, let’s don’t wait until the end of this thing is done, why don’t we take $30,000 (from the Catahoula system’s resources) using an intergovernmental agreement between Catahoula and St. Martinville to pay for it with the money (Cathaoula) has put aside, get these people off this (Water District 4) water and get them with some good, clean water.”
Catahoula area residents are currently supplied water by St. Martin Parish Water District No. 4, but Tauzin and Consolidated Water District Board member Chuck Latiolais said the scope of the Catahoula water system was expanded beyond what it was intended to be in its engineering plans, and that’s led to water quality issues.
Recent water quality problems were the result of the velocity of water moving through one storage tank stirred up sediments in the storage tanks, leading to discolored water for many customers.
The board was informed by McBade Engineers & Consultants Chief Engineer Jeremy Fontenot earlier in the meeting that the refurbishment of the second well should take about six weeks. The first well has been refurbished, with the second well providing all water to the city while work was done on the first well.
Once the first well is back online, after testing to make sure the system is running properly, the second well will be taken offline and refurbished.
Catahoula
“We’re not trying to tell y’all how to run your business,” Tauzin said. “We’re not. We did our part when we formed the consolidation and approved on the parish council side to get this done. Pete brings us change orders, we approve the change orders to get things done.
“The need for clean water is terrible. If we can get it two days earlier, two weeks earlier or 20 weeks sooner, I think we ought to do that. I think we should do everything possible to try to make sure that we can get this in place so when the well’s done in six weeks, we can transfer the water, shut this system down and give everybody over there good water. It’s just a recommendation.”
Latiolais said it is up to the engineers to let the board know if that is possible.
Pam Granger of McBade Engineers said it is possible but depends on how specific the language was in the grant applications for how the money could be used.
The question of how customers would be billed also was an issue for some board members. The parish currently provides the water.
“I’m in agreement to anything for the betterment of the system, but there’s a lot of things that need to be addressed and ironed out before anything can be done,” Delcambre said.
Latiolais said he’s not opposed to look into anything but that all aspects need to be looked at. Among the issues is that when a changeover is made, it loosens sediments in the pipes that turns up in people’s water as sludge. That has already happened in Catahoula when the fire hydrants were being pumped.
“I’m just thinking if we can get it a day sooner, two days sooner, two weeks sooner, two months sooner, however much time, the sooner we can get the water to people in Catahoula to give them better water, it’s that much easier on us,” Tauzin said.
Engineers’ reports
Engineers for the parish and the City of St. Martinville reported on the work being done under contracts both are overseeing.
Nick Sonnier of Sellers & Associates Engineers said the electrical service for the office at the St. Martin Industrial Park will have service provided by an overhead transformer.
The project is 52 percent complete with 66 percent of the allotted time used.
For the Catahoula water system, all of the main and service lines have been installed and the lines have been disinfected and pressure tested. The majority of meter relocations have been completed as well.
The project is 67 percent complete on the time and 88 percent complete on the project. Oct. 16 is the scheduled end but Sonnier said the project should be wrapped up in the next month or two.
Fontenot said the site for the new water well, Well No. 3, is being prepared by the contractor.
The site has been cleared as has the easement area along the road. Work has begun building the well pad. A permanent casing will be installed on the well pad and a subcontractor will begin drilling a test well soon.
The project is about 5 percent complete but that should accelerate now that workers are on site.
The elevated tank refurbishment at Denbas Street is complete outside of a couple of punchlist items.
Distribution system isolation valve work has installed 11 valves. If testing shows the need for more valves to be installed, there is still money available in the contract to do that work, Fontenot said.
The water line crossing project is scheduled to be done by June 10. About 10 percent of the project is done with boring under the bayou to be finished in May.
The contract for installation of meters and fire hydrants is scheduled to end May 31.
About 2,375 meters have been installed with about 1,050 remaining to be installed. Additional crews have been brought in to Catahoula for the work, and about 400 meters remain to be installed in St. Martinville.
Twenty-nine fire hydrants have been installed in St. Martinville under the contract with 60 percent of the contract complete.
Supervisors’ reports
St. Martin Parish Water Manager Ronald Daigle told the board that work being done on the Catahoula system plant is about 50 percent complete.
Construction led to some electrical glitches which are being worked on. He expects some issues to arise when the next phase of work begins but said the problems will be worked on as they arise.
Board member Don “Tuffy” Resweber asked if there are shutoff valves that could prevent water quality issues in neighborhoods that occur when the system is being worked on.
Daigle said that shutting those valves off could compromise fire protection by closing off fire hydrants in those areas.
St. Martinville Water Manager Jonathan Vining said the city is dealing with water pressure issues, possibly because of the soft starters for the generators at the well.
Extremely high pressure led to a blowout on the 16-inch water transmission line. Another blowout happened while trying to isolate parts of the system. All seem to be related to the soft starters causing high pressure issues.
The city is awaiting approval of grants that would purchase Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) to optimizes pump performance. VFDs adjust motor speed based on real-time demand, rather than running at full speed constantly.
The city had no violations for water quality this past month but has had some complaints and several water boil advisories as a result largely of the hydrant changeouts as part of the consolidation process, or from the pipe blowouts.
Before the city can begin providing water to other systems in the consolidation process, Vining said, there must be a second power source for Water Well No. 1. Well No. 2 has a generator that is a second power source, but it can’t be used for Well No. 1 because the generator doesn’t have the amperage to provide power over that distance.
