Louisiana’s water systems need $9B to meet codes - Greater Baton Rouge Business Report

Louisiana’s water systems need $9B to meet codes

A legislative task force on Friday heard from state officials on the status of Louisiana’s water systems in its bid to craft recommendations for improvements.

Amanda Ames, chief engineer for the Louisiana Department of Health, presented an outline to the Task Force on Solutions to Achieve Viability and Efficiency that showed the state’s 1,270 drinking water systems are rated a D- overall by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The situation has led to “a tremendous amount of emergency response in the last few years,” she said, with “about 200 (water systems) under formal enforcement for water quality issues or infrastructure problems.”

“We recently did a survey for EPA and it was estimated that it’s about $9 billion in need” to bring systems up to code, Ames says.

State law tasks the health department with grading the systems. In 2022, more than one-third (389) rated A, 255 rated B, 170 rated C, 55 rated D, and 82 rated F, Ames says.

Many of the systems are in small communities that rely on water revenues to survive, resulting in inadequate investments in maintaining and operating the systems. Other issues are tied to the workforce, officials say.

“We’ve seen a pretty significant decline in infrastructure in the last five to 10 years,” Ames says.

It’s a similar situation with wastewater, according to Scott Templet with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

The most recent 2017 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers rated Louisiana’s wastewater systems a C-, while a survey from 2022 pegged needed upgrade costs at $2.5 billion, Templet says.

He notes that the survey only incorporates needs documented within the past five years, and many municipalities either lack management or capital improvement plans, or have not updated those plans in the last five years.

The task force is expected to continue hearings over the next year with the goal of crafting recommendations for lawmakers no later than Sept. 6, 2024. Read the full story from The Center Square.