By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

EDGARD – Six months after being handed a state mandated order to remove contaminants from tap water flowing through LaPlace, St. John Parish administrators told the Parish Council Tuesday the system is now in full compliance.

Mike Curtis, a water quality consultant for Curtis Environmental, said a quarterly test of the east bank water system performed in February showed that levels of trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids, two contaminants regularly found in the water, were well below standards set by the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Curtis explained that when examining water quality, DHH and EPA officials look at what is called a running quarterly average of contaminant concentration by taking the average of the previous four individual quarterly tests. He said contaminant levels showed a dramatic drop compared to samples taken in November.

“The results from this test were good enough to push testing results for the past year below EPA and DHH thresholds,” Curtis said. “There is no longer a need to send out letters to residents and businesses.”

Curtis said testing data showed that trihalomethane and haloacetic acid concentration levels were both well below 20 parts per billion, which brought running averages to 63 ppb and 34 ppb, respectively. He said EPA and DHH mandate an 80 ppb average for trihalomethane and a 60 ppb average for haloacetic acid.

“So you’re telling me that the water in LaPlace is safe to drink?” Councilwoman Cheryl Millet asked.

“It’s always been safe to drink,” Curtis said. “It meets or exceeds all EPA standards that I know of at this time.”

The contaminants, a byproduct of heavy chlorination of the tap water, were the motivation behind the parish’s 2003 purchase of a $3.3 million filtration system, which uses a reverse osmosis mechanism to eliminate impurities without the need for chlorination. A series of issues delayed complete installation and the system was never fully or consistently operational until late last year.

“The levels were dropping even before the system was completely online,” Curtis said. “Now that it is filtering out impurities regularly, we should see the averages drop even lower.”

Acting Parish President Pat McTopy told the council the parish is using the same filtering process that is used by companies who sell bottled water and that residents should no longer be afraid to consume water from the tap.

“I just want the residents to know that the water is safe to drink and that they don’t have to spend $30 or $40 a month for bottled water,” McTopy said. “It’s safe. It meets all standards, and it’s refreshing.”

In an effort to further show the public the water is indeed safe, the council spent Tuesday’s meeting drinking water from two plastic pitchers of chilled LaPlace tap water instead of the customary bottles.

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