Life of wastewater plant prolonged

By Renee Simpson
Frequent travelers on Hahnville’s Highway 3160 (Home Place Road) may have noticed a green and yellow project sign near the entrance to the West Bank wastewater treatment plant.

The sign may be difficult to read at 55 mph, but the work it describes is anything but insignificant, as workers last week made the final tie-in on a bypass valve that will allow the Wastewater Department to inspect and repair elements of the plant without risking a long-term shutdown.

The $1.3 million-plus rehabilitation project addresses an ongoing issue at the plant – Corrosion from hydrogen sulfide gas. The work includes repairs to damaged concrete and recoating both the influent wells and headworks. In addition, new filtration screens and an odor control unit have been installed at the Hahnville plant. The project is expected to finish up in mid-October 2011.

Similar upgrades are also in progress at the Destrehan wastewater plant.

Those interested in seeing the parish’s wastewater facilities up close are invited to up for one of our fall Info Tours in October. More information on the infrastructure tours will be available soon at the parish website, stcharlesparish-la.gov. The parish also operates a wastewater oxidation pond facility in Luling.

Ormond project close to completion
With the southbound span already installed, contractors on July 13 poured and leveled approximately 18 trucks worth of concrete to line the major drainage canal that runs underneath Ormond Boulevard near Airline Highway.

The work is part of a much-needed project, now very close to completion, to replace three collapsing 60-inch corrugated metal culverts and undersized culverts responsible for carrying runoff from the western side of Ormond subdivision to Destrehan I pump station.  From there, water is pumped under Airline Highway to the East Bank Hurricane Protection Levee.

Pilings support the new 28-foot by 6.5-foot concrete conspan bridges. Water flow capacity under the boulevard will be increased from 350 cubic feet per second to 1,413 cubic feet per second. Work began on the project in late April.

“This project has had some traffic impacts on the boulevard, so we know residents in the area will be happy to see the construction site get back to normal,” Parish President V.J. St. Pierre said. “From an infrastructure standpoint, we’re looking for a marked improvement in drainage.”

The second conspan bridge under the northbound lanes was installed shortly thereafter.

The approximately $1.8 million project is funded through a hazard mitigation grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

For more information about all the contract projects ongoing in St. Charles Parish, visit stcharlesparish-la.gov and click on Residents > Public Works Report. To see construction photos, visit stcharlesparish-la.gov/photos.