[StBernard] To fight brain-eating amoeba, St. Bernard water reaches necessary chlorine levels

[Westley Annis]

To fight brain-eating amoeba, St. Bernard water reaches necessary chlorine
levels

Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
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on November 19, 2013 at 7:00 PM, updated November 19, 2013 at 7:01 PM

St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta on Tuesday announced that the
parish has reached the 1 milligram of chlorine per liter of water that was
mandated by the state Department of Health and Hospitals after a rare -- and
fatal -- brain-eating amoeba was found in the parish water system. The
parish must maintain those levels for 60 days.

Peralta said he spoke with DHH engineer John Williams during the weekend and
was told that the parish had hit that 1mg/L threshold on Thursday, meaning
the parish now is expected to maintain those higher chlorine levels until at
least the middle of January, according to DHH orders. Tuesday was the sixth
day of the 60-day requirement.

DHH's Communications Director Christina Stephens confirmed on Tuesday that
"our testing of water samples collected on November 14 confirmed that the
parish's water system had reached the required 1.0 mg/L of free chlorine,
which DHH is requiring under the administrative order." 

"DHH will continue to test the water regularly to make sure that the level
is being maintained," Stephens wrote in response to NOLA.com | The
Times-Picayune questions. "Following 60 days at this level, CDC will be
testing the water again to determine if the amoeba is present."

A 4-year-old Mississippi boy died in August after contracting a fatal
infection while visiting St. Bernard. 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 brain-eating amoeba,
according to the CDC.

Also on Tuesday, Peralta asked the Parish Council to hire attorney Patrick
Fanning, along with attorneys Edward Kohnke and Rachal Chance of Preis &
Roy, in case legal representation is needed in complying with the DHH order
and any potential repercussions. 

The council introduced an ordinance to hire those attorneys, and it is
scheduled to hold a public hearing on the matter at its Dec. 3 council
meeting at 7 p.m. The council will vote on the hirings at that meeting.
Peralta said the attorneys would be paid $175 an hour, a rate proscribed by
the state attorney general's office.

While Peralta said the attorneys initially would help navigate any legal
issue that might arise while the parish works to meet the DHH mandates, he
acknowledged that the attorneys also could help with any litigation that
might arise, whether from the Mississippi child's death or from others in
the community. Peralta said Tuesday that the family of the boy has not filed
a lawsuit against the parish.

In addition to the heightened chlorine levels, St. Bernard also must test 50
water sites a month and rotate those 50 samplings among 75 different sites.
Previously, the parish was required to test water sites only 30 times a
month.

In terms of the safety of drinking more highly chlorinated water, EPA
environmental engineer Jonathan Pressman said in September that water with
up to 4 milligrams of chlorine per liter is completely safe to drink.

Still, Peralta and others have said they have heard from many residents with
complaints about the water's odor and taste, along with concerns about how
it is affecting their hair texture and color, and their skin dryness. Others
have complained of rashes, Peralta said.

In October, DeSoto Parish's water system also tested positive for the rare
amoeba. DeSoto and St. Bernard also tested positive for the rare Naegleria
fowleri amoeba in 2011 after a death in each parish.

The family of the man who died in St. Bernard in 2011 has a wrongful death
lawsuit pending against St. Bernard Parish; the suit was filed in state
court in October.

After the recent findings that the amoeba was present again in St. Bernard
and DeSoto, DHH officially adopted an emergency rule increasing the minimum
disinfectant levels required for public water systems and raising the
required number of samples taken each month.

"This rule is based upon scientific data and recommendations from the
federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relative to the control
of the Naegleria fowleri (brain-eating amoeba) parasite, which has recently
been found in two public water systems in Louisiana," stated the emergency
rule, which took effect on Nov. 6 and is set to be published in the
Louisiana Register on Wednesday (Nov. 20).

In water systems that use chloramine -- a common disinfectant for water in
the metro New Orleans area that contains both chlorine and ammonia -- and
systems that use free chlorine, each must now maintain a continuous level of
at least 0.5 milligrams per liter of the disinfectant in its water,
according to the new emergency rule.

The Parish Council on Tuesday also authorized Peralta to apply for a $21
million loan, through a state Department of Health and Hospital-administered
Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund, largely to replace 31 cast-iron pipe
segments that have been identified as contributing to poor circulation of
chlorine throughout the parish water system. The money also would go toward
enhancing water pressure in eastern St. Bernard.

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

Peralta, along with state and federal officials, also have pointed to the
decline in housing since Hurricane Katrina as a culprit, saying that the
spotty housing in many communities can prevent adequate chlorine
circulation.

Nearly 80 percent of St. Bernard's housing units had severe damage from
Katrina's storm surge and levee breaches. As a result, the parish
experienced the most dramatic population decline of any community in the
state, according to the 2010 census. Its population fell by 47 percent from
its 2000 figure of 67,229.

Peralta also noted on Tuesday that when renovating houses after the storm,
many St. Bernard homeowners put in new sinks and showers, and that often
those newer models required less water, thus further decreasing the parish
water system's pressure.