Drinking Water Case Study: Town of St. Joseph, Tensas Parish, Louisiana

The town of St. Joseph is located in the Mississippi River Delta in northeast Louisiana. The water treatment plant in the town draws it source water from two wells in the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer. For years, residents have experienced discolored water containing large quantities of yellowish-brown colored particles due to precipitated iron and manganese which were not being filtered out by the community’s water treatment facility. Iron and Manganese are secondary water contaminants and their presence in the finished water are not enforced.

The water treatment plant for the community had not been adequately maintained and the pipeline distribution system was deteriorating. The water system was 90 years old.

Between May 2012 and January 2016 St. Joseph issued 20 boil water advisories for their water system.

• 12 advisories were due to water main breaks
• 7 advisories were due to equipment failures
• 1 advisory was for a planned system repair

These failures led to an Emergency Administrative Order by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and subsequent sanitary survey and audit of St Joseph’s water system. However, residents continued to be provided discolored and potentially contaminated drinking water.

Finally, after lead was detected in the drinking water in St Joseph, Governor John Bel Edwards issued a Public Health Emergency Proclamation for the Town of St. Joseph on December 16, 2016.

The threat of an imminent public health emergency was based on levels of lead detected in the drinking water above primary drinking water standards(Link) at two locations in the Town of St. Joseph. The Governor ordered testing of every household in the town within four weeks.

The Louisiana Department of Health, out of an abundance of caution recommended residents use an alternative source of water for:

• personal consumption
• brushing of teeth
• making ice
• rinsing food
• food preparation(cooking)

Based on 414 customers sampled for lead in their drinking water, 90 homes (21.7% of samples) had unsafe levels of lead.

The highest lead level in a home in St. Joseph, based on partial data released was 925 ppb. The EPA Primary Drinking Water Standard for Lead is 15 ppb.

Since this Public Health Emergency Declaration, the community drinking water system for the town of St Josephs has been overhauled and new distribution lines have been installed. http://ldh.la.gov/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/4567

However, residents whose homes contain older pipes and appliances may still be at risk of lead and other contaminants entering their drinking water. Work continues to try to eliminate these potential dangers to residents.

St. Joseph’s water problems are one example of approx. 400 water systems that provide inadequate drinking water to residents across the state. The links and resources within this guidebook may be useful to residents in similar situations to better safeguard their drinking water.