By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – A New Orleans-area engineering firm will continue to handle design, management and permitting of an ongoing project to clear major drainage canals in the parish that are situated within wetland areas.

The St. John the Baptist Parish Council on Tuesday approved a $136,061 contract with Royal Engineers for the clearing and repair of 20 canals that are mostly situated on the east bank of the parish. According to the contract, the list includes the Haydel, Landmark Land, Trosclair, River Forest, Lasseigne, Guillot, Montz, Milesville, Belle Pointe, Dufresne, Dutch Bayou, Mississippi, Terre Haute, Marathon, Sugar Mill, East Frisco, Dupont, Northwest Third, Reserve East-West and Hotard Canals. Funding for the contract comes from a Community Development Block Grant for Recovery from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Parish spokesperson Paige Braud said enlisting the help of a firm to manage the canal cleaning has helped the process go faster. The firm, which has handled the clearing of other canals in the parish, has helped to expedite the permitting process for the work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ensuring the work can get done more quickly. Prior to the contract, the parish had put one person in charge of securing permits, slowing the process down.

The parish began clearing tree limbs and other debris from the canals back in 2010 by securing permits that can be renewed after five years. Many of the canals had not been cleaned in more than a decade, and parish officials say the debris is a major contributor to flooding in several neighborhoods. The bulk of the work has focused on several large outlet canals on the north side of Interstate 10 in areas that are protected wetlands.

The canals, which connect to the parish’s system of residential drainage pipes and ditches, send rainwater out of neighborhoods and into the Reserve Relief Canal, which drains into Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas. Braud said funding for the work was included in the 2009 bond issue and other recovery grants from the Office of Community Development.

Parish officials say the cleaning has made a difference in many of the east bank canals that have undergone work. St. John Capital Projects Administrator Mike Carmouche said water levels in the canals have come down considerably, and water is draining at a faster rate than the parish had previously seen.

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