DANIEL TYLER GOODEN / L’Observateur / May 5, 2000

ST. JAMES PARISH – A chemical spill forced St. James Parish to shutdownboth the east and west bank water intake systems Monday.

Jody Chenier told the St. James Parish Council on Wednesday that EDC, 1, 2Diechlorethane was detected in the Mississippi by the Exxon-Mobil Refinery in Baton Rouge, who immediately alerted the water treatment plants down river.

Early Monday morning the Peoples Water System in Donaldsonville reported traces found in their water testing systems. The Louisiana Department ofEnvironmental Quality advised St. James Parish to shut down their waterintake operations at that time.

The west bank water plant shut down operations at 10 a.m., with the eastbank facilities ceasing operations at 10:30 a.m., both before the spillactually reached the stations.

The parish waterworks department ran on stored water supplies, and advised the community to conserve water usage.

On the east bank, water reserves were depleted enough that with the low water pressure, utility managers were worried that a reverse vacuum in the water lines could bring air and backwater into the system. They ceasedsupplying water to the east bank at 8:45 p.m. The west bank, its waterreserves less prepared, turned off the water with the same concerns at 7 p.m.The parish continued to monitor EDC levels during the course of the day with their internal water testing equipment. Those levels peaked at 3 p.m. ataround 20 parts per billion, which is still lower than what is considered hazardous levels.

After the spill floated downstream and no longer registered in the water tests, parish utilities workers began to bring the water plants back on line.

They bled water lines to avoid passing along tainted water and checked water samples repeatedly.

The west bank water plants were back online at 11:30 a.m. and were at fulloperating capacity by 8 a.m., Tuesday. The east bank water plants resumedoperation at 10 p.m. and was completely online at 1:30 a.m., Tuesday.During the course of the water plant shut down, residents dealt with low water pressure and then the complete lack of water. Sheriff’s deputies wereadvised to ask residents not to water their lawns, if the activity was witnessed.

Car washes were closed and water valves shut off. Inmates at the St. JamesParish Detention Facility and the youth detention facility were not allowed to shower in order to conserve water.

Local hospital reported adequate water reserves for operations, though the Emergency Operations Center did deliver 45 gallons of water to the Riverlands Health Care Center in Lutcher, said EOC director Gerald Falgoust.

The EOC’s main concern, he added, was that the parish was without firefighting ability for nearly five hours.

St. James Parish reported that at no time did any EDC enter the waterfacilities. EDC levels of five parts per million are allowed into the drinkingwater, according to current standards, but most parishes didn’t want to take the chance if it reached that level, said David Wagenecht of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

The spill diluted as it flowed downstream, and reached New Orleans at 20 parts per billion. The Exxon-Mobil refinery in Baton Rouge reported thehighest amounts at 45 parts per billion. The origins of the spill have so farnot been located.

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