[StBernard] After oil spill, bottled water a popular item in St. Bernard Parish

[Westley Annis]

After oil spill, bottled water a popular item in St. Bernard Parish
by Mary Elise DeCoursey, The Times-Picayune 
Thursday July 24, 2008, 12:23 PM
One day after a collision on the Mississippi River threatened the water
supply of St. Bernard Parish, bottled water was a hot item at local stores.

At the Breaux Mart on Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette, store manager Tony
Wertz estimated he was selling 72 24-packs of bottled water every hour. 

"Just about every customer this morning is buying it," he said Thursday as
clerks continued to re-stock the supply. 

One of those customers was Iris Riess of Chalmette, who filled her shopping
cart with bottled water for her grandchildren. Even though the parish had
said its reopened water supply from the river was safe, Riess said she was
reluctant to let her grandchildren drink water from the tap. 

"For myself, I'm not worried," she said. "But I'll probably wait a few days
before I let my grandchildren drink it." 

That sentiment was echoed at Rocky & Carlo's restaurant on St. Bernard
Highway, where Dany Cali, a landscaper from Kenner, said he typically brings
bottled water to job sites anyway. 

"We used to just take it out of the spigot," he said. "But I won't use tap
water from now on." 

St. Bernard Parish government re-opened the parish's water intake valve in
Chalmette around noon Thursday.

Parish President Craig Taffaro said morning testing of water at the site of
the intake valve, as well as the water that had been treated at the parish's
plant, showed it was safe for consumption. 

On Wednesday, parish officials had said they might have to make arrangements
to truck water into the parish if they could not reopen the intake on the
river. They asked residents to conserve water to help stretch the parish's
reserve supplies.

The parish had shut down its water intake shortly after a collision on the
river resulted in thousands of gallons of fuel oil being spilled. But
Taffaro said the Thursday testing came back clear.

Parish officials requested that the state Department of Health and Hospitals
be onsite for ongoing sampling activity at the St. Bernard water plant to
monitor system operations, the parish said in a news release.