By MELISSA PEACOCK

LAPLACE – Problems with St. John the Baptist Parish’s water supply and distribution system did not appear over night. Parish Council members and administrations as far back as the 1980’s have known repairs needed to be made.

“Honestly, it was the debate about what we could do to fix the system (that held repairs up),” one official, who preferred to remain unnamed, said.

Despite delays, water system repairs and upgrades have been made over the last five years. What they are all leading up to, Parish President Nickie Monica said, is a very large project.

“As a councilman, we voted to upgrade Lions plant from 1.5 million gallons to 3 million gallons (treated per day),” Monica said, recounting past work to improve the system. “In July 2000, we changed out the pump at Ruddock. We knew that would buy some time.”

Now, with the decreasing life expectancy of the Ruddock wells and the increasing population, the Parish Council and administration are turning to long-term solutions, rather than additional patches for the aging system.

“Do we spend another million on a plant (Lions) that is already a good 40 or 50 years old – or do we look at other ways to expand water capacity in the parish?” Monica said.

The water capacity for the LaPlace water system (Ruddock) is about 6 million gallons per day (MGD). The maximum demand for the area it services is about 5.8 MGD. The Lions Water Treatment Plant, supplying water to Garyville and Reserve, treats 3 MGD. The maximum demand for Reserve and Garyville stands at about 2.6 MGD.

Those figures, Monica said, show St. John Parish’s water systems are barely supplying enough water to meet the maximum demand of the East Bank during peak times.

“For two summers (peak times), we had drought conditions,” Monica said. “We asked the people not to do certain things, like water the lawn, during certain times of the day.”

A new system, a system utilizing what is already in place, as well as adding on a new plant, could eliminate the need for those types of sanctions, Monica said. But a new plant and continued use of Ruddock wells are not the only recommendations that have been made. Right now, officials said, they are just the most viable of the options.

“If you go any further north (with wells), it would put your well in Lake Maurepas,” said Henry DiFranco, director of Public Works and Utilities. “You would not be drawing from the lake, but from aquifers under the lake. That would create maintenance problems.”

While the parish could still add wells further north, it would likely see an increased risk of trihalomethane (THM) production and increased costs for transporting water a greater distance into town.

THMs are byproducts created by disinfecting water. They are produced when disinfectants, such as chlorine, react with natural organic and inorganic materials present in water.

The Ruddock well system is located almost 10 miles outside LaPlace. Increasing the distance the water has to travel (by moving wells further north), would increase the amount of time chlorine has to react with organic materials in water.

St. John Parish was found in violation of new Environmental Protection Agency standards regulating THMs during the third quarter of 2002. The EPA lowered the amounts of THMs allowable in drinking water to 80 parts per billion in January 2002.

Recently, DiFranco reported that changes aimed at reducing the amount of THMs in the parish’s drinking water are slated to begin as early as this week. Based on the recommendations of a water consulting firm, the parish will proceed with a plan to put a chlorine dioxide system in at Lions Water Plant.

“The chlorine dioxide reduces the amount of chlorine used and also helps dissolve some of the organics,” DiFranco said.

Jar testing and sampling has been done at the site to determine what the effects of the change will be. The parish is also in the process of ordering the equipment necessary to implement the change. The switch to chlorine dioxide is expected to increased the budget as much as $4,000 per month.

Adjustments to chlorine injection points at the Ruddock site will also begin soon. Under that plan, the parish would reduce the amount of chlorine initially injected into the system and move injection points further along in the progression of the water.

“Changing the feed points of chlorine is going to reduce contact time between chlorine and the materials in the water,” DiFranco said. “We have to be careful. We do not want to send brown water into the system.”

Before the water goes through the disinfection process it is brown in color. Chemicals injected into the system remove some materials from the water and help to eliminate color.

“Residents need to be aware that, while we are doing this, we are going to try to avoid anyone having brown water coming out of the taps,” he said. “But, as with any pilot study, that can happen.”

Brown coloration, he emphasized, does not mean the water is bad.

If results from the pilot test at Ruddock do not indicate a significant change in THM levels, officials will look at adding a chlorine dioxide system, although they are not sure whether the results would justify the expense.

“It is going to be a very expensive process at Ruddock to only meet the minimum limit,” DiFranco said. “If we need to go to chlorine dioxide, we will do it on a trial basis.”

The ultimate goal, however, is to add an aeration system – a system proven to reduce THMs. The addition is part of the parish’s long-term plan.

“The gases (THMs) that are created dissipate when mixed with oxygen,” DiFranco said. “We could either put an aeration system inside the tanks or create an in-line aeration tower.”

An aeration system could cost the parish anywhere from $600,000 to $1 million.

“In 1996 we had big decisions on the use of the $5.5 million (bond issue),” Monica said. “We had to spend money at that time just to keep the system’s integrity in tact.

“We have been making moves with chemical injections to reduce THMs. The only issue left to be solved is capacity.”

Currently, Parish Council members and administration officials are researching funding to bring additional water capacity to the parish. DiFranco believes that capacity will come from a new water plant that will supply water to the entire East Bank.

He predicts the selection of an engineering firm to begin initial designs will come before the end of the year. The construction of the plant could cost anywhere from $12 million to $15 million.

“We want a state-of-the-art plant, designed now to meet the needs for the next 50 years,” DiFranco said. “Doing this will get us to the point where we are no longer worried about a 21-inch line from Ruddock breaking and leaving us without water. We will have a source and a nice backup system.”

Editor’s Note: This is the final installment of a three-part series which looks into the future of the St. John the Baptist Parish water system.