Future solution for Baldwin water issues sought

The mayor of Baldwin, town aldermen, state health department personnel, parish council representatives and parish and sewer commission district representatives met in Baldwin Thursday, along with State Representative Sam Jones and Reid Miller of Miller Engineers to discuss Baldwin’s loss of water access Wednesday, and how to keep such access denial from occurring in the future.
St. Mary Parish Water and Sewer Commission 4 Board President Thomas Ducote confirmed that the water for Baldwin had purposefully been shut off Wednesday.
“We were losing too much water through leaks and people dripping their water,” Ducote said. “At the plant we were down to 12 feet and 50 pounds of pressure. A decision had to be made, and something had to give. So, I decided to go ahead and cut off Baldwin, to save the rest of the 2,500 customers we have.”
Ducote went on to say that the problem was compounded by the fact that the plant could not “make water anymore because there was not enough water in the backwash,” and he urged Baldwin citizens to refrain from letting their faucets drip during future freezes, despite news reports instructing them to do so.
Parish Councilman Paul P. Naquin Jr. suggested that for future water emergencies, Baldwin should utilize its two ground tanks at their water facility behind town hall, which sit unused.
Mayor Donna Lanceslin assented, and said that each of the two tanks holds around 2,500 gallons.
Miller confirmed their possible utility, though the pumping of water to and from the tanks he said would be logistically difficult for a short term solution, and that the tanks would first have to be sanitized and pass sanitization tests before they could be used.
DHL representatives stated that such sanitization and tests could be arranged, but that authorization for such an endeavor could not be given at their level at that time.
Jones introduced himself into the conversation by arranging to call and gain authorization to such effect from DHL superiors, directly following the meeting.
For solving the problem of emergency water access in the long term, it was suggested that the elevated water tank in Baldwin be cleaned and readied for use as an emergency well.
As the meeting progressed, it became clear that the short term solution to the problem was to arrange for an emergency sanitizing and filling of the existing ground tanks. This however was suggested to coincide with a necessary boil water advisory, as the water that would be used in an emergency scenario, would only meet minimum standards for use.
St. Mary Parish Councilman Rev. Craig Mathews voiced concern that the situation of Baldwin buying its water from Dist. 4 is untenable in the long term, and that Wednesday’s water denial would most certainly happen again, were Baldwin not to look to becoming its own independent source for water.
Jones referred to the town’s current contract with Miller Engineers to repair Baldwin’s water treatment plant and the money awarded by the state for the purpose.
“To change the use of that money would be a problematic thing,” said Jones. “The intention of the money was to get this plant back running to where Baldwin would be independent.”
Jones went on to stress the timeliness of completing the project.
“We need to get this set up so that we don’t have these issues,” said Jones to Miller.
“We’re working on it,” Miller said. “We’re getting started on the renovation of the pumps. We are working on that. We’re going to have people testing the water next week, to decide what needs to be done.”
“You haven’t done anything yet,” said Jones. “It should have already been started.”
Miller told Jones that his company had only received the contract for the project in December.
Jones said that he didn’t feel that the matter was being treated with the sense of urgency it deserves.