The Advocate. May 22, 2024.
Editorial: Louisiana should do more to address drinking water crisis
The scenes in Killian over the last month — a failing water well, tanker trucks and pallets of bottled water — have become worryingly common in recent years.
The small southeast Livingston Parish town was thrown into crisis when its lone water well, which serves about 1,000 people, failed with no backup. Town and parish officials were forced to scramble to provide safe drinking water for customers, who had complained of brown and silty water from their taps.
Killian’s emergency affects only a small number of people. But there is little doubt the state finds itself in a drinking water crisis. A large number of mostly small, rural water systems, upon which thousands of Louisianans rely, are in such state of disrepair that they sometimes struggle to provide safe drinking water.
In Madison Parish, for instance, schools have been forced to go virtual for days due to problems with the water supply.
In recent water system analyses released by the Louisiana Department of Health, 114 public water systems received grades of either “D” or “F.” By far, most of these systems were from rural areas; Killian received a “D,” and Tallulah, in Madison Parish, received an “F.” A low grade doesn’t necessarily indicate unsafe drinking water, but it does suggest that the system may not be viable long term without significant changes.
The most common source of problems is infrastructure that is often a half-century old or more. For many systems, the situation is now critical.
Fixes are expensive. To fix the broken water system in St. Joseph, in Tensas Parish, the state spent more than $11 million in 2017 and 2018. Residents there have seen a minimum 45% rate hike since the repairs were completed. In Killian, public officials have fretted that replacing the well could cost far more than the town can fund on its own.
Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated Louisiana would need more than $9 billion in water system repairs and upgrades over the next 20 years. Rural systems alone need $4 billion in upgrades, estimated state Rep. Jerome Zeringue, R-Houma, who has worked on this issue.
Some federal dollars that flowed into the state after the pandemic have been directed to fixing drinking water systems, including $300 million from the American Rescue Plan. So far, the state has spent about $1 billion on water system upgrades, Zeringue told Advocate reporter David Mitchell. It’s helping: The number of “D” and “F” systems dropped from 137 in 2022 to 114 this year.
But as Zeringue notes, it’s not enough. Without major investment on top of what has already been made, these same problems will continue to crop up.
We know the state has many funding priorities. Clean water should be at the top of the list.
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