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A new facility in the works for over 20 years will help alleviate flooding concerns for residents of Ouiski Bayou and its surrounding areas.
On Thursday afternoon, Terrebonne Parish officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 1-1A Pump Station.
Located across from the Sugarwood subdivision, the state-of-the-art water control structure in Little Bayou Black features a 20-by-14 foot radial gate, two 48-inch vertical axial pumps, a concrete sump, trash screen and precast concrete piles.
“The goal was for it to be an open-close system,” said T. Baker Smith engineer Amber Plessala, who oversaw the project.
“The 1-1A forced drainage area can operate under normal water conditions. But when we have any sort of high water event, whether inside or outside the system, the gate can close and the pumps can operate to pump down inside. Or the gate can close to prevent the water from coming in,” she explained. “…The people that are going to see the biggest benefit are the people that live along Ouiski Bayou; Highway 311 residents and people living along Bayou Black will see some improvements as well.”
Parish President Gordon Dove said the pump station, which reached substantial completion in February, has already been put to the test with Wednesday’s storm event.
“We had a heavy, heavy rain: a couple of inches an hour,” he said. “[The pump station] was able to keep Ouiski Bayou dry. And while we were pumping this, we weren’t affecting anything down-river…We watch the water levels on both ends — the suction end and the discharge end.”
Dove added that the system is automated and can be operated from the Terrebonne Parish Emergency Operations Center in Gray or anywhere else with a phone application.
The project started under the Barry Bonvillain Administration in 1997 but stalled, Dove said.
“I started it early in [his first term]. I knew this had been on the drawing board. I knew where the money was. I had to hurry up and start it because they were going to take the money away because it had been there for 20 years,” he recalled.
The state awarded Terrebonne Parish $3 million to build the $4.2 pump station, and the parish put up the remaining $1.2 million.
“Five years ago, when Gordy and I took office, there was something out here. There was a picture saying, ‘coming soon: a pump station.’ You might not have been able to see the picture because the picture had been there for about 8-10 years… And I think the residents had given up on this ever being in construction,” said Councilman Darrin Guidry, who represents the Ouiski Bayou area. “After I took office, I spoke with Mr. Dove and said, “Why can’t we build this?’ And of course, Mr. Dove was like, ‘Why can’t we?’
Guidry and Dove thanked the local members of the state delegation for helping them secure the funds and land developer Robert Alleillo for donating the property, in addition to others who made the project come to fruition.
“Everyone did a great job,” Dove said. “…Everyone worked together, and this project became a reality.”
