By ROBIN SHANNON
L’Observateur

The following is part two in a series of stories regarding St. John the Baptist Parish’s plans for the $29.5 million bond issue, which will appear on parish ballots for the April 4 general election. Early voting in the election runs through this week and ends Saturday. The money, which is going to a multitude of capital improvements parishwide, is divided among five propositions that voters can accept or decline as they see fit.

LAPLACE — With a parish water system in dire need of repairs and upgrades, St. John administrators are hoping to use a portion of the 2009 bond issue to help correct nearly a decade of neglect.

Proposition 1 of Parish President Bill Hubbard’s $29.5 million bond package calls for $8 million worth of improvements that will remedy shortfalls and increase capacity within the water system that Hubbard has described as “third world” in some places.

The water proposition is the second most expensive of the five proposals that make up the bond package, which is up for consideration on the April 4 election ballot. Hubbard said water is listed first because it is one of the most important services the parish provides.

St. John Public Information Officer Buddy Boe said the bond money is broken down into three specific areas that are long overdue for improvements. The parish will allocate $4.1 million to upgrade equipment and expand capacity at the Lions Water Treatment Plant in Reserve, which hasn’t seen improvement since 1997.

Boe said Hubbard’s plans are to expand the plant so that it can treat 5 million gallons of water per day instead of its current 3 million gallons. He said this expansion would take care of St. John’s East Bank quantity issues for the next 15 to 20 years.

“If we continue at the present growth level of about 200 homes per year, we will no longer have to deal with capacity problems,” Boe said. “Lions has been operating at 95 percent capacity, and you usually look to expand at about 80 percent.”

The parish had been expecting to receive about $1 million from Cargill Inc. to go toward the expansion as part of a plan to build a sugar refinery in Reserve. The company has since shifted gears and decided to build in St. James Parish, so Boe said all upgrades would be funded with bond money.

Improvements are also in store for the Edgard Water Treatment Plant, which supplies the entire west bank of the parish with water. Boe said the parish plans to use about $500,000 of bond money to go toward new purifiers, filters and pumps at a treatment plant that has been neglected for nearly 20 years.

In addition to those improvements, Boe said the parish also hopes to use a series of state and federal grants to finance construction of a new pumping mechanism that the plant uses to extract water from the Mississippi River. The parish has been using a temporary rented pump that has become unreliable.

“If we are unable to secure the grants, we will direct more money from the water proposition to cover the shortfalls,” Boe said. “These are repairs that desperately need to get done.”

The remaining $3.4 million from the proposition is slated for repairs and safety upgrades to 15 of the parish’s 17 water tanks and towers. Boe said a 2008 study showed that many of the tanks and towers had not been inspected in eight years, and some of the structures are several years overdue for improvements.

Boe said the towers and tanks up for repair have been separated into three priority groups based on condition. Those that have been declared worst would get work first. He said improvements could be as simple as a new paint job or as intense as a complete blasting and resurfacing of the interior and exterior of the tower or tank. Boe said five of the 15 fall in the “worst condition” group.

More information on the complete bond issue, including information on the four remaining propositions, can be found at the parish’s web site at www.sjbparish.com/bondissue.asp.