Catahoula resident has questions about water quality, discoloration

Water quality will improve when consolidation process completed, she is told

for the St. Martin Parish Consolidated Water District No. 4 board about the quality and safety of the water in her home at the board's meeting this past Tuesday.

While the arsenic levels were found to be safe for consumption by a rep resentative of the state Department of Health, both the color of the water coming from the taps in the house as well as sediment and other inclu- sions caught in filters in the home's water system leave her and husband Kenneth unwilling to drink the water or even shower in it when it is at its worst.

Girouard was told that the water quality will improve once the consoli dation process is complete and the new water system is distributing wa ter in the Catahoula area from wells using the aquifer that currently sup plies water in St. Martinville.

But those improvements won't be immediate, although the change could be noticed fairly quickly once the switch to the new water system happens.

“I live in Isle Labbe, not far from St.

John, and we're just having so much trouble with the water," she said. "It's happening more than once a week now.

“I called the state, the Board of Health, to come and check to see about the water. My water looked like concentrated orange juice. He told me it was safe to drink. I'm not a fast thinker, but after he told me that and we had hung up, I was thinking I would like to see him come and drink the water in front of a bunch of people, because there's no way any -

body's going to be using the water."

She also is concerned about the arsenic levels in the water, since arsenic can cause cancer after prolonged exposure.

The St. Martin Parish Water Dis- trict No. 4 water system, which cur - rently serves the Catahoula area and will be merged into the new consoli- dated waterworks system, treats the water for arsenic and iron that are at levels above what the LDH considers healthy.

The health department employee who tested water in the area at Gi- rouard's request was testing for ar senic and iron levels, among other health issues, and found them to be at safe levels.

"I know we're (talking) about De cember (when the consolidation pro- cess is supposed to wrap up), but you know how sick you can get before De - cember if you have that much arsenic in the water?" Girouard said. "It don't make no sense."

She noted one resident in Catahoula paid to have the water tested privately and found a lot of reasons for concern, so he bought a filtration system for his house.

Girouard said she can't afford to do that or to drill a well for water, and even if she could pay for a well, the source would still be the same as the one the water system uses so it would contain arsenic and other elements that are unsafe at high levels.

When the water is discolored she notices it first in the toilet and the sink in the bathroom, which are white porcelain. Girouard said she bought some white cotton material she uses to filter the water in the sink in the kitchen but after a week it was full of debris.

"I change it every week now, and it's disgusting," she said. "Usually y'all say, oh well, a water line broke, boil advisory. Well, if you boil water with high levels of arsenic in it, it concentrates it (the arsenic). So I’m just here to find out what’s going to be done about it. It’s a long time to December to have this much trouble.”

Quality

Board member Chuck Latiolais said the water system in Catahoula has been trying to get money for 20 years to address those issues, and that the consolidation process is also limited by how much money it has to spend. Most water systems in the state have issues they are dealing with, he said, including St. Martinville, which had been running with only one of its two wells active because it didn’t have funds to repair problems with the other well. That has been fixed now and a third well is being drilled for the new consolidated water system that will supply what are currently customers in St. Martinville, with St. Martin Water District No. 4 and with the St. Martin Industrial Park.

“We were fortunate we got money to start fixing the system,” said Latiolais. “Will this system be fixed 100 percent? Not close. We took money and it was put where it was most needed to start. Going forward we’re trying to get more money.”

Parish President Pete Delcambre said the state health department does periodic testing for arsenic levels in the water system, and that tests are not conducted by local officials.

“The high levels that may have been given to you (by someone who conducted a privatelypaid for test) I don’t think correlate with what the state is saying,” Delcambre said.

St. Martin Parish Water District 4 water manager Ronald Daigle said the arsenic levels are well below the maximum contaminate limits the state sets.

“The water from the wells is high in arsenic, but we’re treating 90 percent of that arsenic out,” Daigle said. “It’s 10 parts per million (allowed). We’re having less than 1 (part per million). That’s tested by LDH, that’s not tested by me. So the information that you got is not correct. The state only recognizes their certified lab.”

The coloration in the water and the substances in the water are sediment scoured from old water lines.

The construction in the system causes changes in water velocity in the lines, and the water system also has to exercise valves during the process of fixing breaks or while construction is ongoing for the consolidation process, which also loosens sediment in the lines, which then travels to homes.

Girouard’s location seems to be one of the worst for getting such sediments and coloration, because of its proximity to the St. John Mill area, which seems to get more cloudiness in the water.

Girouard said that it was suggested to her that when she sees the sediment or coloration in her water to call the water system, and someone will go to the area to flush the lines, then have her go to the furthest tap in her house from the water meter to run the water for 20 minutes to clear the water in the house.

“This is happening twice a week,” she said. “I can’t afford to run my water for 20 minutes just to flush out the line. We don’t drink it. We don’t cook with it anymore. The only thing we do is shower with it, when it’s not nasty.

Delcambre said that the wells off Aubrey Ozenne Road used currently by St. Martinville and in the future by the consolidated water system have a much higher quality water. The other wells that will be discontinued could still be used, with water treated the way it is now, but the wells the consolidated waterworks will use don’t require the same type of treatment to remove metals.

The end of construction on the new system also will help keep the water in the pipes from being discolored as much, he said.

Latiolais emphasized that people in Catahoula who are experiencing problems with their water should call the St. Martin Water District 4 office at 394-6797 and talk to Tina or leave a message on the answering machine if no one answers the line.

“She contacts the people that need to be contacted,” he said. “If we don’t know, we can’t help you. We might not be able to help you anyhow, but we’re still going to try.”

Parish Council Chairman Chris Tauzin, who attended the meeting, said that in the past Catahoula had to use water from the St. Martinville water system while repairs were being made to the water system treatment plant in Catahoula, and customers noticed the improved quality of water almost immediately. So he thinks customers will notice the change fairly quickly once the changeover is made permanently.

“This change is really close to being finished,” Tauzin said. “I think we’re just going through some rough times, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and what you’re going to see is going to be a lot better. I think we just need to be patient. I know it’s tough.

“The water’s going to get better.”

In other business The board plans to interview two candidates for the position of director of the consolidated water district — St. Martinville water system manager Jonathan Vining and St. Martin Parish Water District 4 water manager Ronald Daigle — next week at a special meeting. The board will vote later on which candidate to choose. The board may also interview other candidates if any have applied by that point.

The board also plans to hire a clerk to perform clerical, customer service, billing, payment processing and other duties.

Resweber asked why the Louisiana Sugar Cooperative sugar mill is using less water this year than it did last year. St. Martin Parish Director of Administration Raymond Bernard said he heard the mill installed a filtration system to reuse some of the water it uses during the grinding season.

Daigle said that a filtration system has been installed and that the mill is recirculating some water from a pond through a screen and is modifying its filtration system as needed to be more efficient.

The average amount of water being used by the LaSuCa factory is 211,000 gallons a day the last two weeks, Bernard said. Daigle said that at startup last year the mill used 600,000 gallons a day.

Delcambre said the parish and b1BANK are finalizing the donation of a building located on property behind the bank branch in St. Martinville to the consolidated water district to be used as office space for the new water district.

The consolidated district will have to pay to refurbish the building and will sign a longterm lease agreement for parking spaces — 10 to 12 at $1 a year for a 50 year lease, Bernard said, in the lot behind the bank. The front of the office will be redone with the rear used as storage.

Consolidated water board chairman Donnie Laviolette was authorized by the board to sign the acceptance of the donation of the property and the parking lease agreement when the deal is completed.