Jones to meet with DHH on Baldwin water issues

State Representative Sam Jones addressed the Baldwin Board of Aldermen Thursday to report a meeting with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals next week during the special session, in Baton Rouge.
Jones said he would be discussing with the DHH specifics of Baldwin’s out-of-use water well and the condition of the water therein.
He was briefed that the water treatment plant was almost 95 percent complete, but the water had recently been tested with results proving it to be of poor quality with high levels of ammonia, unfit for consumption.
It was further explained that the town had recently received a letter from the state, in which it is discussed that as per Miller Engineers, the chlorine treatment process at the as yet unfinished treatment plant would be counteracted by the naturally occurring ammonia in the water, and that further measures would need to be explored before more grant money from the state should be sought by the town.
Jones’ meeting with the DHH and Miller is reportedly meant to arrange a suitable alternative to the water treatment difficulties.
St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff also appeared before the Baldwin board Thursday.
He explained the parish government would be bonding $20 million throughout the parish in the next two years—$10 million this year, and $10 million next year. He went on to say that Baldwin had been allotted $200,000 of the first $10 million, to fix and build roads in the town, and that the parish had hired Miller Engineers, who would begin the bidding process as early as August.
In other news, St. Mary Council on Aging presented its annual report, Father Sonnier of Sacred Heart Church announced a special Mass to be held Tuesday evening to celebrate the establishment day of the Diocese of Lafayette and a Senior Citizen Educational Seminar was announced for August 21 at Cypress Bayou Casino, featuring guest speaker Attorney General Jeff Landry.