LAPLACE — St. John the Baptist Parish is upgrading its water system.

Last week, the Parish Council awarded the bid for the Pleasure Bend Water Treatment Facility to Volute, Inc. of Houma. Volute’s bid of $773,000 was the lowest bid.

The project calls for building a well in the Pleasure Bend area that would replace the current system of purchasing water from St. James Parish.

Currently, according to St. John officials, the parish is paying St. James $12,000 a month for the water and receiving $4,000 in revenue.

Director of Utilities Blake Fogleman said the Louisiana Department of Health was with St. John “every step of the way” in designing the project. Fogleman told Parish Council members the expectation is the water quality will be as good as in LaPlace.

Fogleman said he expects St. James could provide water in the case of an emergency at the Pleasure Bend well.

— By Richard Meek