536 more residences, 25 more businesses and 13 more public buildings in St. Charles Parish are now better protected from floods as construction has wrapped up on Luling’s Ellington Pump Station.
“This station is innovative and state of the art,” St. Charles Parish President Matthew Jewell said at the ribbon cutting ceremony held Aug. 12. “It has four 116 CFS electric pumps, giving the station the ability to pump 184,000 gallons of water per minute. That means it could fill an Olympic size swimming pool in 2 minutes.”
Jewell added that the station also features automatic barscreen cleaners and is equipped with telemetry, which will allow Public Works Department and Emergency Operations Center officials the ability to monitor and operate the station remotely in the event of an emergency.
Jewell, Councilwoman at Large Holly Fonseca, Councilwoman Julia Fisher-Perrier and Councilwoman Mary Clulee all extended their gratitude to those involved in making the project a reality, including Congressman Garret Graves, State Senator Gary Smith, Louisiana State Representative Greg Miller, LADOTD and parish employees Sam Scholle, Chris Dufour, Rennan Duffour, Carla Chiasson, Nicole Barraco and Jessica Baudoin.
“As a lifelong resident and former parish grants officer, levees and flood protection has been and will continue to be my top priority,” Fonseca said. “The Ellington Pump Station is the third of three new pump stations and nine miles of earthen levee from Luling to Paradis constructed as part of the West Bank Hurricane Protection Levee. The parish partnered with the LaDOTD, who funded nearly 70% of the $8.3M cost of the pump station through the Statewide Flood Control Program.”
Engineered by Burk-Kleinpeter, Inc and constructed by Sealevel Construction, the project received more than $5 million in grant funding from the State of Louisiana Department of Transportation under the State Wide Flood Control Construction Program.
“Eight years ago when I took office, District 7 had no levee,” Fisher-Perrier said. “District 7 had a little berm my grandfather built with shovel and some dirt. Now look what we’ve built.”
In November 2018 St. Charles Parish Council unanimously approved the $8.2 million contract for this latest component of the West Bank Hurricane Protection Levee project.
“This project and the multiple projects included in our Westbank Hurricane Protection System are essential to our residents’ protection and the stability of our economy on the west bank of St. Charles Parish,” Clulee said.
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