Parish president credits new Convent clarifier, staff for uninterrupted water during winter freeze

Parish President Peter Dufresne told the St. James Parish Council on Feb. 4 that recent upgrades to the Convent water treatment clarifier and staff efforts prevented disruptions to the water supply during an extended winter freeze.

"I'd like to start off by commending our staff for their hard work during the recent winter freezes," Dufresne said. He reported that three filters for the new Convent clarifier "came online, giving us the ability to clarify up to two million gallons of water a day, up from 850,000 gallons," and said three more filters would be added in the coming days. He said the combination of the new equipment and employee response meant the parish did not suffer water interruptions or a loss of water pressure during the freeze.

Dufresne told the council the project was funded through a grant the administration described in the meeting as the "American Cares Act." He cautioned the parish cannot guarantee it will never lose pressure in future weather events but said the upgrades were a "tremendous infrastructure improvement" to help ensure uninterrupted service to residents and industries.

Council members did not ask for additional technical detail at the meeting. The council's discussion did not specify the grant's issuing agency, account numbers, or the expected schedule for the remaining three filters beyond "the next few days." Those implementation details were not provided in the transcript.