Amid an ongoing debate over how much development Livingston Parish can take, new grades for the parish’s various water systems highlight how the region has braced itself for rapid growth — but some local water systems appear unprepared for looming infrastructure challenges, according to parish officials and engineers.
The ratings are based on a number of factors, including financial sustainability, infrastructure quality, operation and maintenance and whether the system has violated state or federal water quality standards. They are compiled based on data from 2022 by the Louisiana Department of Health.
Only 5 of the parish’s 29 water systems received a grade of a “C” or lower — an outcome that surprised Eddie Aydell, chief engineer at Alvin Fairburn & Associates. In fact, the parish earned more “A” grades than “B,” “C,” “D” and “F” grades combined.
“I know there are a lot of really small systems that are strapped for cash,” Aydell said. “I would have expected it to be worse than that.”
It’s the small systems that are usually the most burdened, even without growth, he added. Even if a larger system can take on 1,000 customers with little effort, other lower-capacity companies or municipalities may struggle to add 100.
Livingston Parish President Layton Ricks explained that infrastructure is always a concern when a parish grows, and water systems are no exeception.
“The last thing you want to do is build subdivisions and not have enough water pressure,” Ricks said. “It’s going to take a lot of planning to figure out how you manage growth, allow growth to happen, but protect the existing residents.”
Preparing cities
Cities and companies serving larger, more populous areas generally received higher water grades as they prepare for expected growth that hasn’t slowed in recent years. For instance, the water system for the city of Walker, which has continued to expand, received an “A.”
The parish has experienced a population boom over the last decade, but more recently developers have pitched expansive subdivisions on the outskirts of some of the most crowded areas. That has drawn concern from residents who fear the influx of homes will worsen flooding, traffic and education standards.
But water systems are different from, say, addressing road or sewage concerns, requiring ongoing upkeep that anticipates rapid growith, according to Denham Springs Mayor Gerard Landry.
“You do have capacity limits based on the size of the pipes. Gas and water, we’ve tried to stay ahead of development by making sure we have the size pipes that we need,” he said. “We’ve worked hard to stay ahead of the curve in that respect.”
The City of Denham Springs water system, which received a “B” grade, serves about 4,700 customers within the city limits, and around 5,400 outside. Many of the subdivisions proposed in recent months would pay into the municipality’s system.
“The water system demands are obviously going to increase with the growth in the parish because we service a significant area just south of Denham Springs,” Landry said. “We have three water towers to store water, seven water wells, a state-of-the art system that monitors all of our wells.”
Landry said of the “B” grade that he believes the city’s system is “better than that,” suggesting the survey conducted by the state was incomplete.
“We didn’t have a financial study done — a rate study,” he said. “We’re in the process of doing a rate study. Those things take time. There were some bonus points we clearly were eligible for and those weren’t counted either.”
He said the city will make sure that it receives an “A” grade next year.
Small system struggles
Even as the more populated areas of the parish work to address an anticipated surge in residents, some of the systems serving a smaller customer base have struggled.
The Springfield Mobile Home Park water system received an “F” grade. The Killian Water System earned a “D.”
Receiving a low grade does not necessarily mean that the water is unsafe to drink, according to LDH’s water grade website.
“Obviously small systems are always strapped for cash,” Aydell said. “It’s very challenging to set a rate that is reasonable that people can afford to pay and generate enough revenue to just do basic operational maintenance and actually be able to bank some cash for improvements.”
Denham Springs’ water system, or the expansive Ward 2 Water District — which received a high “C” rating — are both large enough that small increases in user fees can allow them to make meaningful upgrades to the systems, he said. Ward 2 provides water for Watson, Port Vincent and outside of Denham Springs and Walker city limits.
Aydell called Killian “a prime example” of smaller systems facing hardship.
“They’re too small. Killian, they have extremely limited resources,” he said. “That’s a situation where…they need to be charging a lot more per month than they are.”
Against the backdrop of the town’s low grade, the Killian local government has sought to find an outside company to manage the failing water system, according to Alderman Brent Ballard. The town’s mayor did not return a request for comment.
At the same time, some systems serving smaller townships got better grades. Albany got an “A” and Livingston got a “B.”
Although the largest development efforts have yet to infiltrate the more far-flung corners of the parish, if a vast subdivision did appear in an area with a small water system, meeting the increased customer capacity could be a real challenge, according to Aydell.
“The smaller systems are going to be much less capable, much less able to serve an additional 500 customers,” he said.
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