Water Still Putrid

From the Daily Comet in Thibodaux:

Bayou Lafourche’s soupy black color comes as a result of Hurricane Gustav’s strong winds, which churned decomposing organic matter settled on the bottom of the bayou onto its top layer, water officials said.

Decaying matter was then passed on to a different form of bacteria that sucked the oxygen out of Bayou Lafourche, giving it its stagnant quality.

But water officials have deemed it safe to drink for most of the 300,000 people supplied by Bayou Lafourche, except most of Thibodaux, all of Assumption Parish and small pockets in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.

Except for those places, the water is fine. Believe that if you like. Unfortunately, we're in one of those places where they say it's not fine. We get regular reports on water quality, and there is often a slightly high bacterial content or too much of one chemical or another. The problem is not new, but no government agency has moved ahead to try to solve the problem.

A long-term fix to the area’s poor quality water that languished for two decades will begin Monday after receiving the federal approval its needed, a direct result of the disaster, officials say.

The plan is to smooth the bottom of a six-mile stretch of Bayou Lafourche from Donaldsonville to Belle Rose and increase the flow of water southward.

Sections of the bayou, including that area, are a rocky texture shaped like multiple sand dunes lined up in front of one another, which stops the flow of water, officials said.
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The dredging project will cut into some private property along Bayou Lafourche and tear away some people’s bulkheads.

About 100 impacted residents impacted attended a contentious meeting with multiple political representatives and water officials Thursday night.

They were told the project would start Monday regardless of their opinion on the matter, but most appeared accepting of the move.

The waterways are public property. Folks have no right to build bulkheads into the bayou, so if your bulkhead goes, too bad. It should not have been built in the first place. The plan to dredge the bayou and allow more water to flow down Bayou Lafourche from Donaldsonville has been on hold for two decades partly because the people with their piers and their bulkheads protested loudly enough that action was stalled.

Bayou Lafourche is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is dammed at Donaldsonville, and water is pumped down the bayou. The pumps were off for two days during and after Gustav, resulting in the stagnant lake and polluted water drinking water that we have now.

Despite the protests of the residents along the bayou, Governor Jindal has ordered more water to be pumped and the dredging will proceed - finally. Kudos to Jindal again.