By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – St. John the Baptist Parish officials are asking east bank residents to conserve water this weekend while the parish performs maintenance at the LaPlace water treatment plant.

Parish spokesperson Paige Braud said the parish is replacing about 70 filters at the parish’s reverse osmosis filtration plant. The filters remove impurities from parish tap water pulled from wells in Ruddock.

The project began Friday and should be completed by Monday. Braud said the water will remain safe to drink, but the plant is not running at full capacity.

“The parish is asking residents to refrain from activities like washing cars, flushing lines and filling swimming pools, which require large quantities of water,” Braud said. “The parish is rerouting water from the Lions treatment plant in Reserve in order to supplement the LaPlace water supply.”

Braud said affected residents were notified through the parish’s First Call telephone messaging system. The parish will also run updates on public access station channel 15.

Braud said residents of LaPlace Park, New Era, Grove Park, Sugar Ridge and Foxwood as well as River Parishes Hospital will be turned over to the Lions system and will notice a change in tap water. She said the Lions plant produces cooler water than the LaPlace plant because water is pulled from the Mississippi River.

The maintenance is being performed over the weekend because schools are not in session, thus minimizing the demand on the system.