By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – St. John the Baptist Parish officials say a project to expand capacity at the Lions water treatment facility in Reserve is about 85 percent complete and should be online by the middle of April.

The $3 million expansion project, which began in April 2011, will increase treatment capacity at Lions from 3 million gallons per day to 5 million gallons per day. The Lions plant has been operating consistently at about 95 percent capacity, and communities typically look to expand at or around the 80-percent threshold, according to parish officials.

Progress at the treatment plant was discussed at a parish council meeting last week during which the council awarded a more than $142,000 grant to help fund the improvements. St. John Chief Administrative Officer Marie Brown-Mercadel said the grant is from the state’s Community Water Enrichment Fund through the Office of Communty Development.

Although the bulk of the funding for the Lions plant is coming from the parish’s $29.5 million bond issue from 2009, Mercadel said the parish has sought grants to help free up bond issue money for other projects. She said the parish had also been awarded a $100,000 grant through the state’s Local Government Assistance Program.

“If we can find additional dollars to help pay for these kinds of projects, we will always take advantage of that,” Mercadel said. “There are other projects where the bond issue money can be used.”

According to Mercadel, Lions already serves all of Reserve, Garyville and a small number of homes in LaPlace. The expansion will increase the plant’s footprint deeper into LaPlace to serve all homes and businesses south of Airline Highway. It will take pressure off the Ruddock plant and satisfy the east bank’s water quantity issues for the next 15 to 20 years.

Parish leaders have tried numerous times to secure funding for expansion at Lions. The plant has not seen improvement since 1997.

In addition to discussing the expansion project, the council also discussed a proposed project to install a water line crossing under the Mississippi River from the Lions plant to the Edgard water treatment plant. The subject was an agenda item of Councilman Haston Lewis, who represents Edgard.

Mercadel said before the parish can begin to look into the design and permitting aspects of an underwater line to connect the facilities, the utilities department recommended repairs to the existing clarifier that purifies the water at the Edgard plant.

She said the repairs, which are expected to be completed next week, will extend the use of the clarifier for at least another two years.

“Once the repairs are complete, it will allow the administration adequate time to design, permit and fund the water line,” Mercadel said. “We have met with the levee board as well as the Army Corps of Engineers, and they have walked us through the permitting process. We’ve also sought advice from neighboring parishes, who have undergone the same process.”

Mercadel said the parish could use bond issue money to fund the project once it is ready to be designed and permitted. She said a connecting water line will help take some pressure off the Edgard plant, which treats water for the entire west bank.