By ROBIN SHANNON
Staff Reporter

EDGARD — St. John Parish administrators announced their intentions to pursue grant funding from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality for various wastewater and sewage projects parishwide.

Through a resolution approved by the St. John Council, the parish was given the authority to apply for grants totaling about $4 million from the DEQ’s Clean Water State Revolving fund. The fund is scheduled to receive about $43 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, otherwise known as the economic stimulus package, which will be used on wastewater infrastructure and water quality improvements across Louisiana.

Boe said if the grants receive approval, the money, which would become available in the coming months, would be used on “shovel-ready” projects that could get started immediately.

“Our first priority project is construction of a new lift station along River Road near DuPont in LaPlace,” Boe said. “The parish has been in discussion with DuPont on this for years with the goal of taking some pressure off the Reserve system.”

Other projects include equipment upgrades at the LaPlace treatment plant, improvements to several lift stations throughout the parish and pipe repairs on the East Bank and West Bank to eliminate inflow and infiltration issues.

“We’ve been having problems with rain water getting into the sewer pipes,” said Boe. “We are treating water that doesn’t need treatm