Automatic valves should boost Parks water quality

In an effort to help maintain water clarity, the Village plans to step up the schedule for installing automatic flush valves.
At the Sept. 12 Village Council meeting, Mayor Kevin Kately said the Parks water system will soon begin purchasing and installing the automatic valves. Kately said recurring customer complaints about tinted water can only be resolved by frequent flushing.
Short of hiring a full-time employee to flush lines like larger towns can do, he added, the automatic valves are the best answer. “They aren’t cheap, but we need to bite the bullet. We can purchase 15 to 20 at a time and begin phasing in the change.”
Kately said South Louisiana’s iron-rich water and 40 years of insufficient flushing are to blame. “When we flush one area, it can stir up sediment in others. The automatic valves can do the flushing in the middle of the night. We will install them in the ‘dead end’ lines and other places where problems are most frequent,” He said.
In the meantime, Kately asks customers to call about water clarity issues and system employees will flush those areas ahead of schedule as needed. He reminds customers that the discoloration is caused by iron, not dirt or harmful impurities. “The water quality is good. As for the clarity, we will fix it,” he said.
In other business, Kately reported that, with the help of a consultant, the Village is applying for a grant from Major League Baseball (MLB) to help finance a lighting system for the field at Cecile Rousseau Poche Memorial Park. It’s far from certain, as many towns apply for the MLB grants every year, Kately said, but it’s worth the effort.
The Village has sufficient funds from the parish recreation bond to finance the lights but Kately wants the help if it is available. There are a lot of other things needed at the park, he said, and the MLB grant would allow the bond funds to be used for other projects.
On the subject of the park, Kately said that the new bathroom building is now completed. But before it even opened, there were problems with vandalism. “People are destroying it,” he said.
When he was told about the damage and went to look, “I saw it and said ‘you have to be kidding me.’ A vandal had forced a crowbar or something into the jamb and pried the locked door open, then thrown waste all over the fixtures,” Kately reported. “It’s a shame. We were hoping to be able to leave it open all the time, but will probably have to open it only during park events,” he said.
Finally, council members reminded the public that there will be a Walk to End Cancer at the park on Oct.1. Residents are asked to participate and support this important cause.