By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

RESERVE — Several local residents expressed anger, fear and resentment Tuesday night at a meeting held to address medical questions and concerns related to the St. John Parish Water District 1 August ameba detection and subsequent chlorine burn.

An Aug. 27 parish announcement confirmed that water taken in an sample two weeks earlier from St. John Parish Water District 1 tested positive for Naegleria fowleri ameba.

The impacted water system serves 12,577 people in Reserve, Garyville, Mt. Airy and a small portion of LaPlace on West 5th from Acorn Street to Apricot Street.

Approximately 125 residents attended Tuesday’s meeting, organized by state and local elected officials and the Department of Health and Hospitals.

St. John the Baptist Parish administrative officials, including Parish President Natalie Robottom and Parish Director of Emergency Preparedness Jobe Boucvalt, were joined by DHH Chief Engineer Jake Causey, Louisiana State Epidemiologist Raoult Ratord and DHH Medical Director Dr. Jimmy Guidry to provide updates to and answer questions from audience members.

Despite their efforts, officials could do little to pacify the crowd.

“Why has it taken DHH 15 years to step up to the plate and give us answers about water?” Reserve resident Ken Van Camp asked. “All we’re asking for is fresh, clean water in St. John Parish.”

Causey said over the years progress has been made in the parish’s drinking water systems, adding “maybe the progress hasn’t occurred as quickly as some expected it to be, but it has occurred.”

DHH officials weren’t the only meeting hosts targeted with complaints, as several residents – including Joyce Reese of LaPlace – targeted their frustrations at Robottom.

“We elected you and look what we got,” Reese said to Robottom, adding she and her son have experienced heightened asthma problems since the water woes began in August, which she said have caused her to miss days of work because of her medical issues.

“I’m a single parent (and) I have to work,” Reese said.

“It’s not my fault. It’s your fault Miss Parish President.”

Gramercy resident Fred Cook also took aim at Robottom, inciting the crowd’s applause as he held up an envelope of what he said was recall information.

“St. John Parish residents, we are beating a dead horse,” Cook said. “They don’t care because they are going home to clean water.”

Cook said he needs 12,000 total signatures on the recall documents, a statement which prompted many audience members to yell out, “I’m on it,” as well as similar sentiments.

Opening the meeting, Guidry told residents Naegleria fowleri amoeba “lives everywhere” and is found in surface water, such as lakes and rivers, that people have been exposed to for their entire lives. He said because of the deaths of three people, Louisiana is the only state that tests for the ameba.

Louisiana instituted an Emergency Order in November 2013 requiring all water systems to maintain a 0.5 mg/l of chlorine level, the minimum level health officials say has been shown to kill the ameba.

Guidry said if you ask any other state if they have the ameba in their drinking water, “they would not be able to answer you because they don’t test for it.”

Louisiana State Police turned over the results of their St. John Parish Water District 1 ameba investigation, launched on Sept. 2, to the State Attorney General’s Office Oct. 2.

Robottom said reporting inconsistencies by parish employees, not negligence or criminal activity, may have been what led State Police to confirm they were launching an investigation into water quality records in the parish.

Boucvalt read a parish water update at Tuesday’s meeting, that said “since being notified of the Emergency Order in Water District 1 … administration has been working very closely with DHH to comply with all requirements.”

He said DHH issued an emergency order requiring St. John Water District 1 to perform a 60-day free-chlorine burn to kill the ameba within the water system, which started Sept. 18.

Robottom opened the meeting saying that because of pending litigation, she nor other parish officials could answer specific questions from residents.