LAPLACE — St. John the Baptist Parish administrators and Council members are considering upgrading St. John’s water system or replacing it altogether.

The difference in which approach is taken could mean millions of dollars in expenditures. Complicating the process is funding the effort, which some hope is paid for largely through grant funds and not through taxpayers’ expense.

Council members have been told replacing the system would cost $6 million.

“I’m not opposed to revamping the system if we can get a grant,” District 7 Councilman Tom Malik said. “I think having to put out another $5.5 to $6 million to redo the entire system and having the residents pay for it is not the way to go.”

Higher-priced water bills in the last year have caught many local residents by surprise, some of which reflect expanded billing cycles, thus increasing the amount.

Batteries have been failing on transmittal readers the parish installed in homes 10 years ago. The batteries have a 10-year life span, which explains why so many are failing, causing increased man hours in meter reading and hundreds of battery replacements.

Malik, who won special election to the Council April 29, said in hindsight it is easy to say water meter battery and register replacement should have been spread over the previous five years.

With that not possible now, he said efforts to avoid resident expense should be prioritized.

Parish Council members took a step this week to address the situation by approving a resolution to submit a loan pre-application to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality for commercial and residential water meter replacement.

Funding through the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund is being sought at an interest rate of 0.95 percent for a not-to-exceed amount of $6 million.

If approved, Parish President Natalie Robottom’s office said the loan would be used for automatic meter reading and smart metering technology with leak detection software.

Parish leaders have not made public a timetable for a decision.