Project to keep salt water out of Bayou Lafourche stalls

Lafourche Parish is looking to install a second metal barge to stop salt water from seeping into Bayou Lafourche.

Parish President Charlotte Randolph said nearly 300,000 residents in Lafourche, Terrebonne, Assumption and Ascension parishes use the water in Bayou Lafourche daily for drinking, washing clothes and other household needs.

“We have to protect our water supply,” she said. “If salt water gets into our system, then it could be a danger for anyone to drink, especially people with medical conditions.”

Last year, the state allocated $5 million to the area to sink two structures. The first barge was installed near the Company Canal in lower Lafourche Parish. A second is slated to be placed in Bayou Lafourche on the north side of the new Larose bridge.

“We want to catch up on both sides to make sure that the salt water doesn’t get into our system,” Randolph explained.

Shaw Coastal was hired to oversee the Bayou Lafourche project. Construction bids were issued in September 2008; however, for unknown reasons, the bidding process was interrupted.

Randolph told the parish council last week that some bids had been misplaced.

Shaw’s contract with the parish ended Sept. 1. Rather than re-advertising for bids on the project, the parish president suggested the government wait until the year’s end.

The council opted instead to extend its contracts with Shaw Coastal and the state’s Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, which oversees the project.

In other business, the council deferred voting on whether to accept the LaTour Subdivision into the parish’s drainage plan.

Councilman Lindel Toups asked the council to vote the measure down, saying drainage in that area has been a problem for years.

“We’ve been having problems with the drainage over there for 15 years,” he said. “The last hard rain flooded several of the new homes in Sugar Mill Plantation. (The LaTour developers) need to come and tell us what they plan to do to fix the drainage problem before they go adding more homes.”

Department of Public Works Planning Manager Patricia Matherne said deferring the vote will not stop the development in the area. The public works department has already approved the first phase of the project.

Matherne suggested the council meet with property owners before Phase II is approved to discuss drainage concerns. Developers are requesting that LaTour Boulevard, Bordeaux Drive and Point Noir Court be accepted into the parish’s system.

The council will consider the measure at its Sept. 22 meeting. Councilman Phillip Gouaux, who authored the resolution, voted against the deferment.