[StBernard] Nearly a year after brain-eating amoeba death, study says St. Bernard needs water rate hike

[Westley Annis]

Nearly a year after brain-eating amoeba death, study says St. Bernard needs
water rate hike

Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
Email the author | Follow on Twitter 
on July 18, 2014 at 4:12 PM, updated July 18, 2014 at 5:50 PM

St. Bernard Parish water and sewer rate increases are needed to "maintain a
healthy infrastructure," according to a study launched after a brain-eating
amoeba was found in the water system last year.

The study, released this week, proposed several scenarios for rate
increases, including one in which average residential rates could double,
and rates for businesses and industrial users could more than double or
nearly triple, respectively.  

The Parish Council on Tuesday forwarded the study to the parish water and
sewer committee for its review. The council ultimately would have to
authorize any increases. 

Currently, water rates are $1.65 for each thousand gallon of metered water
use and sewer rates are at $2.03 per thousand gallon. 

The council and the administration launched the study after a brain-eating
amoeba was found in the water system last fall. The amoeba was found
following the death of a 4-year-old Mississippi boy, Drake Smith Jr., who
died in August from the amoeba. He came in contact with the bacteria while
playing on a Slip 'n Slide during a visit to St. Bernard Parish in July
2013.

In February, after increased chlorine levels for several months, federal
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testing confirmed that the parish
water supply no longer had the rare Naegleria fowleri amoeba.

But officials ordered the study to consider the long-term future of the
parish's water and sewerage systems. The rate scenarios proposed would
established tiered structures, charging higher rates per-gallon for those
who use more water and sewer. That would mean business and industrial users
would end up seeing steeper increases than residents.

Councilman Ray Lauga, chair of the water and sewer committee, this week
questioned whether adding to businesses' bills would eventually filter down
to their customers. The parish administration has not yet taken a public
stance on the increases.

Rates for most users would rise, and each scenario does stipulate to a
three-year phase in of the increased rates "to avoid immediate rate shock,"
the report said. 

"The Water and Sewer Utility are severely understaffed and have been
delinquent in much needed investment in utility infrastructure," said a
presentation UtiliWorks consultant David Shpigler gave to the council this
week.

The current rate levels for both water and sewer service were last raised in
1997, and UtiliWorks said water rates are nearly 30 percent below where they
need to be in order to break even at current operating levels. Sewer rates
are even more of a concern, with rates more than 80 percent below current
levels of sustainability, according to Shpigler's presentation.

Shpigler said that, typically, rates should be adjusted every five years.

The presentation, provided to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, said the parish
"needs to invest in infrastructure and personnel in order to ensure a viable
infrastructure."

(Here you can view and download a .pdf version of the presentation.)

Shpigler said water and sewerage staffing is "inadequate" and that there is
a "need for 25 additional employees" beginning in 2015 and ramping up over
the next five years.

He said that after Hurricane Katrina, the parish water and sewer department
dropped from 105 to 54 employees.

A smaller population base after Katrina also possibly could have contributed
to contaminated water in St. Bernard that led to two deaths in three years,
state officials previously have acknowledged. In 2011, a 28-year-old St.
Bernard man died after using his home's tap water in a device called a neti
pot, which is used to rinse the nasal passages and sinuses to relieve
allergies, colds and sinus trouble.

State health officials have speculated that population decline post-Katrina
could have contributed to poor water circulation and thus lower chlorine
residuals.

In addition, state officials since Katrina had uncovered several drinking
water act violations in St. Bernard's water system, including failure to
properly monitor the water, a previous NOLA.com|Times-Picayune review of
documents showed.

Records of the violations, issued from 2006 to 2012, revealed the state was
concerned that St. Bernard water employees were not properly supervised and
that the parish, at times, could "not be sure" about the quality of the
water it delivered to residents.

Back in March, the Parish Council introduced a proposal that would have
increased water and sewer rates by 34 percent to help improve infrastructure
in the water system. At that time Lauga indicated that water and sewer funds
had been running a near $3 million deficit "and basically that means that
needed capital improvements haven't been done to the system."

That proposal eventually was tabled after Council Chairman Guy McInnis
pushed for a third-party audit of the water system.

In addition to bringing staffing levels back up to about 80 employees,
Shpigler told the Parish Council this week that $24 million is needed for
water pipe improvements and $10 million for sewer upgrades.

"An increase in operating revenues is necessary to support infrastructure
investment and proactive system maintenance," the study stated. "If St.
Bernard were to do nothing, revenues at current water rates would need to
double by the end of the decade to cover its financial obligations."

Below see excerpts from the water and sewer rate presentation, with
specifics on the various tier scenarios:

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/07/st_bernard_water_and_sewer_ra
t.html