Dollars Slow in Stemming Louisiana Water Woes

Months after devoting $300 million in federal aid to the Louisiana's troubled water infrastructure only a fraction has been guaranteed to local projects.

WRKF reports that the Louisiana Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee approved funding for 29 water and sewer system upgrades with a total cost of $23 million dollars last week, while hundreds of local governments are still waiting to see if they will get a piece of the $300 million in federal aid the legislature set aside to rehabilitate the state’s crumbling water infrastructure.

State lawmakers overseeing the process said this allocation was just a start, as improving the state’s aging water infrastructure has emerged as a top legislative priority in the last year.

It has drawn federal attention as well. In April, the Biden administration, citing a 2017 study conducted by the American Society of Civil Engineers, estimated that Louisiana’s drinking water infrastructure would need $7.3 billion for maintenance and improvements over the next 20 years. President Biden even toured a water treatment plant in New Orleans while promoting his infrastructure plan.

A joint investigation by WWNO/WRKF and the Louisiana Illuminator published in May found that approximately 20 percent of the water systems monitored by the Louisiana Department of Health are not up to code. The health department estimates that it issues between 1,600 and 1,700 boil water advisories each year, leaving residents of rural and low-income communities to wash dishes and bathe their children in the brown water that comes out of their tap.