By ROBIN SHANNON
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — St. John Parish administrators have begun seeking bids to repair a group of parish water towers that are in poor condition.

The water tower improvement project, which will rehabilitate and repair five towers throughout the parish, is the first project from the $29.5 million bond issue to be advertised for bids. Voters in the parish approved the bond issue in April.

St. John Public Information Officer Buddy Boe said the job calls for a repainting and sandblasting of towers in LaPlace, near the P.D. Hebert Building, Garyville, Edgard, Lucy and Wallace. Boe said that a study of the parish’s 17 water towers and tanks done in June 2008 by Principal Engineering Inc. showed that those five towers were rated as being in the worst condition.

The parish has set aside about $3.4 million for work on 15 of the parish’s 17 towers and tanks, which hold treated drinking water. The estimated cost of the first phase is $1.15 million.

In addition to a fresh coat of paint outside and sandblasting inside, Boe said a few of the towers require additional structural changes. Work on the Lucy tower will require a relocation of the tower’s power supply and the LaPlace and Garyville towers will get a redesigned overflow trough. The Wallace tower was described as having “serious structural problems” at the tower’s struts. Boe said those problems should be corrected before the next hurricane season.

Boe said the exterior paint jobs on the towers will last for the next 15 years.