LAPLACE — St. John the Baptist Parish recently entered into a contract with Three Deuces Inc. of Pearl River in the amount of $700,000 to perform canal repair, clearing and drainage work for 20 individual drainage canals. As required by the Department of Natural Resources Coastal Management Division, the parish has obtained all appropriate permits for each canal included in the project.
Because of obstructions in the drainage systems inhibiting the flow of storm water, St. John Parish was awarded a $1,332,604 Gustav/Ike Community Development Block Grant to improve water runoff within the target areas. The fully funded project is scheduled to begin Jan. 2 and is expected to be complete by June 2014.
 
The following canals are scheduled for cleaning:
• River Forest Canal
• Montz Canal
• Landmark Canal
• Lassiegne Canal
• Haydel Canal
• Milesville Canal
• Guillot Canal
•Belle Point Canal
• Dufrenese Canal
• Trosclair Canal
• Hotard Canal
• Northwest Third Canal
• Reserve East West Cross Cut Canal
• Mississippi Bayou Canal
• Dutch Bayou Canal
• Terre Haute Canal
• Marathon Canal
• East Frisco Canal
• DuPont Canal
• Sugar Mill Canal
In addition to the in-house maintenance schedule for canal cleaning, St. John Parish has partnered with various state entities, such as the Lafourche Basin Levee District and the U.S. Coast Guard, to clean other canals throughout the parish. The weed control program implemented in summer 2013 will continue to address 46 canals simultaneously with the canal cleaning project.
“These projects combined with the systematic assessment and cleaning of storm drains in target areas will go a long way toward improving parishwide drainage. Additional drainage projects under discussion for 2014 should address many of the remaining drainage issues exposed during Hurricane Isaac”, said Robottom.