[StBernard] St. Bernard wants to replace old cast-iron pipes as deadly amoeba chlorination flush continues

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard wants to replace old cast-iron pipes as deadly amoeba
chlorination flush continues

Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
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on November 05, 2013 at 8:49 PM, updated November 06, 2013 at 3:52 AM

As St. Bernard Parish continues its chlorination efforts to rid the parish
of the deadly brain-eating amoeba found in its water system, the Parish
Council on Tuesday evening discussed efforts to replace 31 cast-iron pipe
segments that have been identified as having a "history of failures." The
parish government is seeking a $15.7 million loan for that work through a
state Department of Health and Hospital-administered Drinking Water
Revolving Loan Fund.

And about three months after a 4-year-old Mississippi boy died after
contracting the fatal bacteria while visiting St. Bernard Parish, Chief
Administrative Officer Jerry Graves said Tuesday that the parish is "very
close to achieving" the state health department's mandate of 1 milligram of
chlorine per liter of water.

Those 1 mg/L levels must then be maintained for at least 60 days, according
to state officials. But Graves said that it will be "very difficult to
maintain systemwide," and that some of the spots of continued difficulty are
in Arabi and other areas where there still are cast-iron pipes."

In September, the federal Centers for Disease Control confirmed the amoeba's
presence in the St. Bernard Parish's water system. That made St. Bernard the
first municipality in the United States to have its treated water system
test positive for the rare brain-eating amoeba, according to the CDC. Then,
in October, DeSoto Parish's water system also tested positive for the rare
amoeba.

DeSoto and St. Bernard were the two parishes that tested positive for the
rare Naegleria fowleri amoeba in 2011 after a death in each parish from that
bacteria.

After the finding in DeSoto, DHH announced that it is "now strongly
recommending that the 82 water systems that use chloramines to disinfect
their water increase their residual levels to .5 milligrams per liter
throughout their distribution lines."

That is the level known to control the fatal Naegleria fowleri amoeba.

Chloramine, a common disinfectant for water, contains both chlorine and
ammonia. But, to purge water systems of the amoeba, at least 0.5 milligrams
per liter of free, pure or residual chlorine -- not the chlorine and ammonia
mixture -- is needed.

Still, in DeSoto and St. Bernard, where the state's three only recorded
deaths ever have occurred from the Naegleria fowleri amoeba, DHH is
requiring that the water systems maintain the 1 mg/L threshold for at least
60 days and then maintain 0.5 mg/L thereafter.

Robert Delaune, an environmental engineer with Digital Engineering and
Imaging in Kenner who is helping St. Bernard assess its water
infrastructure, said on Tuesday evening that the 31 targeted cast-iron pipes
have a "history of failures... have given St. Bernard several problems in
the past."

The 20-year loan for $15.7 million -- although some said that figure might
need to go as high as $21 million -- would be paid at about a 3.5 percent
interest rate, but up to $1.125 million of that could potentially be
forgiven, according to Delaune.