By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

CONVENT – Federal grants totaling more than $122,000 will help St. James Parish cope with water pressure problems in the northern part of the parish.

St. James Parish President Dale Hymel said the grants, acquired through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program in the middle part of 2009, will fund construction of two waterline booster pump stations to be placed on either side of the Mississippi River near the Sunshine Bridge.

“There has been a tremendous boon in development in that part of the parish that our current system is struggling to handle,” Hymel said. “This will allow us to be able to provide better services for our businesses and residents.”

U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, who helped secure the grants, said in a statement the pumps will allow parish water utilities to meet peak water flow demands that have been rising recently because of increased oil and gas industry activity in St. James.

“St. James Parish and other Louisiana communities have supported the energy needs of our nation for decades,” Melancon said. “The infrastructure improvements made possible by this federal funding will help St. James continue to play a critical role in supplying domestic energy to the rest of the country while also attracting new business to the parish.”

Hymel said the parish is already experiencing the effects of new development in three new hotels in the northern part of the parish. He said one of the issues necessitating the pumps was the new buildings were not getting enough pressure through the water lines to run their sprinkler systems.

“The pumps will give us enough pressure to satisfy present needs and future development in the parish,” Hymel said. “These lines also service southern portions of Ascension Parish.”

Hymel said the parish entered into a $236,000 contract with LA Contracting Enterprises of Pierre Part for design and engineering of the identical pump stations. He said the west bank pump has already been completed and is fully functional.

“We are in the process of working out a lease agreement with Motiva for use of land near their refinery for the second pump,” Hymel said. “We hope to go out for bids on the second pump in the coming weeks.”

According to Melancon’s statement, Louisiana has been allocated a total of $368,123,048 in federal funds from the Coastal Impact Assistance Program. To date, the state and coastal parishes have received $98.4 million of that funding for coastal restoration and infrastructure projects.