AMY SZPARA

PHOTO: The Reserve Oxidation Pond at the end of Za Road in Reserve will be the site of the new sewer plant recently approved by the St. John Council. Inset, Gary Breaud and L.T. Scioneaux, residents who live on Za Road, stand in front of a pump station that sits on their street. They are upset about the sewage problems in Reserve and don’t think a new plant will help the situation. (Staff Photos by Amy Szpara) RESERVE – Residents who live on Za Road in Reserve are fuming over the current sewer system in the area, and they don’t think that the new sewer plant will solve anything. Upset over the smells, overflowed toilets in their homes and even bubbling sewer from a manhole in their street, the people who live on the road that leads to the Reserve Oxidation Pond are saying that plans for the new plant won’t help a thing. “They can’t even maintain the pump in front of the house,” said L.T. Scioneaux, pointing to a pump station that sits across from his Za Road home. The narrow road leads to the oxidation pond, no longer in use, and the future site of a new sewer plant. The St. John Parish Council voted recently to approve the new plant to relieve some of the current sewer system’s burden. Parish President Nickie Monica vetoed the plant in hopes that the old oxidation pond could be restored for less money, but the council overrode the veto. Proponents of the new plant believe that it will solve some of the problems that Reserve residents have and allow for growth in the area without overloading the current system. “It’s just a waste of money,” said Scioneaux. “Nickie doesn’t want it because it’s just a waste of money. They should just improve the one in LaPlace. They want to keep dumping in Reserve and Garyville.” Scioneaux, already angry about the pump, said he believes the plant will not be maintained properly. “They haven’t got enough sense to put a generator in the pump. It doesn’t work when the power is out, and everything backs up in the street. Sewer starts backing up in people’s houses,” he said. “How are they going to maintain anything bigger?” Za Montz, who has owned a good portion of land on the street for a long time, said that he is also upset. He said that the parish is already pumping sewer into the swamp behind the oxidation pond. “I don’t know how the EPA allows that. It goes right into the Reserve Canal and the lake,” he said. “I don’t think they should build that plant back there. It will cost a lot more than they think.” Montz, who used to take care of all the pumps in Reserve before he retired, said he knows first hand what maintenance of pump stations and plants require. “They don’t know how to maintain anything. We always have smells because of the pump across the street. It’s flooded most of the time,” he said. “Nobody maintains anything. They should repair what they have.” Now visiting a son in Las Vegas, Montz will be out of town until early July. He checks in with his daughter frequently, though, to see how sewer and drainage is on their street, especially after it has rained. “I’m really trying to relax a little,” he said about his trip. “Because what I see in Reserve is pitiful.” Gary Breaud, who lives at the end of the street, said he is not happy about the plant either. “I’d prefer it not be here,” Breaud said. “We already got a pond back there. You can smell it. It always smells around here.” Breaud said that just because they build a plant, doesn’t mean they will maintain it. “If they could maintain the systems they have right now, it might not be so bad.” Another neighbor, Glenn Becnel, lives next door to the pump station. “It smells all the time. They put pine blocks in the windows, but that doesn’t help any,” he said. He said that one time the pump overflowed and filled his yard. His dalmatian died after playing in the yard. “He could’ve died from the sewage, being in the sewage water,” he added. Councilman Ranney Wilson, who represents the district that Za Road is in, voted against the sewer plant. “What can I say? They forced it down my throat,” he said. “We lost the vote on that. I would have much preferred bringing the pond back. We had already awarded the bid. It’s ridiculous. It’s just throwing money away.” Administration recently received authorization to rescind acceptance of the low bid for the Reserve Oxidation Pond so that work on the plant could begin. “The oxidation pond is already there. It’s been there for years and years,” said Councilman Allen St. Pierre, who voted for the plant. “That is the most appropriate place. All we have to do is take core samples, then start building.”