Magnolia Water outlines investments in Lafourche sewer systems, defends rate hikes after residents report spills and billing shocks

Magnolia Water representatives told the Lafourche Parish Council on May 12 that the company has bought and upgraded dozens of local sewer systems since entering Louisiana in 2019 and has transitioned all operations in‑house to improve accountability.

"Since 2019 Magnolia has spent about $23½ million in Lafourche Parish buying wastewater systems and upgrading them," said Steve Ernst, identified for the record as a Magnolia Water representative, adding that Magnolia restored many systems to regulatory compliance and that most of their local systems received A grades from the state health department. Ernst and Scott Olman, Magnolia’s vice president for operations in the area, described a recent shift from contract operators to Magnolia employees that they said would improve responsiveness.

Council members and residents, however, said the improvements have come with steep cost increases for some customers. "Some of these people went from paying $23 a month to $76 a month without any kind of apparent notification," Councilman Pierce said, describing older residents on fixed incomes who faced large bills or threats of service disconnection for unpaid back balances. Magnolia officials said rate changes reflect both operating cost recovery and capital investments approved by the Public Service Commission (PSC). "The PSC reviews our balance sheet and allows recovery of expenses and, for capital investment, a modest return — they're the ones who set rates," Scott Olman said.

Council members and residents also raised a neighborhood complaint that a force‑main break allegedly discharged sewage into a retention pond in Waverly. Councilman Melvin said a resident provided water tests showing elevated E. coli counts and dead fish. "The dead fish don't lie," Melvin said.

Magnolia said it identified and repaired what it determined to be its force main, dug out and replaced contaminated soil, and conducted independent sampling. Ernst said Magnolia notified DEQ and that the company’s lab testing "came back just fine," while questioning whether the resident's out‑of‑state lab was certified to perform the tests in Louisiana.

Council members pressed for clearer incident notification and local contact points for constituents. Ernst offered his contact information to council members for faster escalation of individual complaints and Magnolia provided a customer service hotline — 855‑643‑8152 — that it said operates 24/7 for billing, outages, backups or spill reports. "If you call that number the customer service reps will route it to the right area," Olman said.

Council members asked the company to supply neighborhood‑level documentation of capital investments and planned to circulate incident notices through the parish administration. "When you are making investments, people want to know what they're getting for the dollars that they're spent," Parish President Ojeron said, asking Magnolia to provide photos and specifics that council members can use when answering constituent calls.

The council did not take any formal action on Magnolia's presentation; members asked staff and Magnolia to follow up with details for affected neighborhoods and to coordinate reporting to DEQ when spills are suspected.