Opelousas Undergoes Sewer Project
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
Contracted crews have begun a 10-year, state and federally mandated cleaning and repair process that targets the Opelousas sewer system, according to city engineer William Jarrell III.
Jarrell told the Board of Aldermen during a Tuesday night meeting that the sewer work proceeding underneath over 400 miles of city streets started several months ago and is estimated to take about 10 years to complete.
The cleaning and rehabilitative work, Jarrell said, is part of an continued effort by the city to comply with a previous comprehensive order issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Environmental Quality and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, to repair and clean the city sewers.
At this point the project, which started in the Park Vista area, is expected to cover about 10 percent of the sewer lines annually, said Jarrell.
Jarrell assured members of the Board that all of the city’s five election districts are covered by the project.
Any immediate impact provided by the project will probably go unnoticed, Jarrell admitted.
“It will be years before (the city) will begin seeing any real impact,” said Jarrell.
Eventually Jarrell said, the sewer cleaning will cover all of Opelousas by the end of the next decade.
“The work will be done in multiple phases. The plan we are using was previously outlined by the former director of public works. The city was under a compliance order to work out a plan and submit that plan to what was considered to be the most problematic areas at the time,” Jarrell added.
As the crews work through the entire sewer system network, Jarrell said inflow defects that are identified away from private property, are being addressed.
Much of the Opelousas sewer system, said Jarrell, is antiquated.
“This system has concrete pipes and old lines that are in poor shape. There are also clay pipes and service connections are bad. It’s important to note that the problems that are being attended to are not on private property,” Jarrell said.
