Staff Photo “This is an experience that I hope we don’t have to repeat, but as always there’ve been some valuable lessons learned, and we will incorporate those into our operating procedures moving forward,” said Daniel.
Several days of hard freezes left Donaldsonville residents without water, but parish officials say they are working to ensure that does not happen again.
Parish President Kenny Matassa said officials are taking a close look at what happened and putting together a plan to prevent it going forward.
“But anytime Niagara Falls freezes up, we have problems.” Infrastructure Division Director William Daniel said the operators at the water plant noticed that on Tuesday, January 2, the water levels were high and they were losing their reserve.
This was unusual because water consumption typically goes down at night when people use less water.
Daniel said they had to work quickly to get water restored.
“So we were able to get that system pressurized, and we started feeding that.” From there, they began working on getting water to residents.
Daniel said they kept the pressure up while the dialysis center was open, but once it closed for the night, they were able to reduce the pressure and feed water back into the reserves.
The trouble continued as they opened more valves and found more leads in the system.
“This is an experience that I hope we don’t have to repeat, but as always there’ve been some valuable lessons learned, and we will incorporate those into our operating procedures moving forward,” said Daniel.

CONWAY — Residents will have to boil water another day after officials found and fixed a leak in the water system.
Early Monday, Conway officials ordered residents to conserve and boil water because of a low pressure issue.
Crews from Beaver Falls Municipal Authority helped borough workers find the leak, authority superintendent Sam Aloi said.
The break was fixed around 2 a.m. Tuesday, officials said.
In a social media post, Mayor Debbie Giska-Rose called the problem a “substantial break” and said that a specialist used tools to find the break underground.
Typically, a boil water alert lasts 48 hours from the time of the break.
Borough officials said the boil water alert could last through late Wednesday or early Thursday.
Residents are cautioned to not drink tap water without boiling it first.
All water should be brought to a rolling boil, continuing for one minute afterward, before letting it cool.
Either boiled water or bottled water should be used only when drinking, making ice, washing dishes, brushing teeth and preparing food, officials said.

2 in Iberia Parish shut off its water discharge pumps Thursday afternoon to replenish the storage tanks.
The discharge pumps were restarted by 6 p.m. to allow customers limited use as water became available.
The district planned to shut off pumps again from midnight to 5 a.m. today to allow the storage tanks to recover during a low demand time period.
Billy Edrington with the Louisiana Water Co. said a boil water advisory put in place for parts of Iberia Parish likely will stay in effect until Saturday.
The company will begin taking water samples to measure the coliform count today, which is followed by testing that takes at least 24 hours.
Other parts of the area have faced similar problems.
St. Mary Parish school closures were announced in other parts of the parish.
B. Edward Boudreaux Middle School, Foster Elementary School, Franklin Senior High School, Franklin Junior high School, Lagrange Elementary, Raintree Elementary and West St. Mary High School will be closed today due to instability of local water service, according to a prepared statement from the St. Mary Parish School Board.
The National Weather Service in Lake Charles is expecting warmer temperatures through the weekend with highs in the 50s on Saturday, and 60s on Sunday.
Rain is expected on Sunday, with the highest rain chances overnight Sunday into Monday morning, before tapering off during the day Monday.

Over 100 families have been without running water for two days.
The hardest part for David Kirkpatrick has been not being able to take a bath.
There’s no way we can just keep getting that water out of the pool, and heating it up, and putting it in a tub."
When things will get back to normal on the southeast side of Lake Bistineau in Bienville Parish is not clear.
To explain the shortage, those with the Mill Creek Water System blame the recent freezing weather.
Kirkpatrick’s wife, Dianne, explains, "They’re trying to find where the leaks are.
Evidently, there’s leaks, and that’s why the tanks aren’t holding as much water so we can have water.
The water system’s maintenance man says water will run from six to eight tonight, then will shut off and be on again at six tomorrow morning.
The on-and-off pattern, will continue, until water levels are restored.
Advice suggested from Water Mill: keep water dripping during freezing weather, but shut if completely off if no one will be home for more than a night.

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (KMOV.com) – All Illinois American Water customers in the Metro East are under a water conservation and boil order until further notice.
St. Clair County officials said the only people not affected are those who receive water from the Kaskaskia River.
Download the KMOV app for breaking news notifications Illinois American Water officials said they will also be switching treatment to “free chlorine,” which does not contain ammonia.
Senior Manager of Field Operations and Production Karen Cooper said the boil order and water conservation were issued after the continuous cold weather caused an increase in water main breaks and ice buildup at their East St. Louis water plant, which resulted in a loss of pressure across their distribution system.
“We want to thank our customers for adhering to these important water service changes.
The cold weather has posed challenging to our team and we are working around the clock to limit the impact to our customers.
Several restaurants around the Metro East are impacted by this boil order, causing some to shut down while others operate through the water restrictions.
said Teresa, a Fairview Heights resident, sarcastically on Wednesday when she learned about the boil order from Smoothie King.
"I’m easy to please," said John Turner, a customer who was not inconvenienced by the boil order affecting the drinks served at Tavern on Main.
Terry Mackin with Illinois American Water said the boil order is a precautionary measure when water pressure drops and is also a conservation effort to save water for fire emergencies.

The Shasta County Department of Public Works has lifted a boil water advisory for the Crag View area in the northern part of the county.
The advisory went into effect on Saturday after a car hit a fire hydrant, which caused a loss in water pressure, department officials have said.
The water distribution system leak has been repaired and that water pressure has been restored.
Water testing shows the water is safe to drink, officials said.
The Crag View water system is within the Shasta County Service Area No.
23.

UPDATE: The boil water advisory for the Town of Livingston has been lifted.
LIVINGSTON-Two water systems in Livingston Parish are under boil water advisories after experiencing freeze-related problems overnight.
The Town of Livingston Water System is under a boil advisory as well as French Settlement Water Company.
The Livingston advisory was issued this morning.
It was reported that a well went down, but water is now back up and running.
Samples will be tested as a precautionary measure.
Due to holiday hours, water samples can’t be turned in until Tuesday.
It can take 48-72 hours to get water samples back.
The boil water advisory there will remain in effect until the freeze and bacteriological samples can be collected.
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(CLAIBORNE PARISH, LA) – An alert is going out to some Claiborne Parish residents this Thursday.
Customers of the South Claiborne Water System are under a boil advisory until further notice.
This advisory is due to the freezing temperatures that we have been experiencing in the ArkLaTex.
They are currently making some repairs to water lines on the system.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Residents of a south suburb are forced to boil their water after the cold weather caused three water main breaks.
Walter Ladalski is among the 1,700 South Chicago Heights water customers who must now boil their water before drinking, bathing, cooking and washing dishes.
“I don’t want to take any chances — you don’t know what’s floating in there,” Ladalski said.
The village issued the boil order after three water pipes — including the main one that sits below the town reservoir — burst Tuesday morning.
“When the weather gets that far below zero, it can cause the water to freeze and [the pipes] rupture,” said Catherine Linan, who is a South Chicago Heights Village clerk.
Crews spent the day making repairs.
Village officials say when water pipes break, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires testing the drinking water for bacteria.
While the village took samples Tuesday, the boil order will remain in affect until the results are in.
“All water must be boiled for their own safety and their own concern until the boil water advisory has been lifted,” said Nora Martinez-Gomez, who is the South Chicago Heights Village administrator.
If all is well, they will lift the boil order.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) issued a boil water advisory for Public Wholesale Water Supply District No.
23, which includes a number of public water supplies, including Neosho County Rural Water District No.
KDHE officials issued the advisory because of high turbidity.
Rural Water District No.
Other districts impacted are Wilson Co. RWD No.
5, Neosho Co. RWD No.
Other cities included are Altoona, Buffalo, Fall River, Fredonia and the Coal Hollow Water Co.
Customers should observe the following precautions until further notice: — Boil water for one minute prior to drinking or food preparation, or use bottled water.
— Water used for bathing does not generally need to be boiled.
Regardless of whether it’s the supplier or KDHE that announces a boil water advisory, KDHE will issue the rescind order following testing at a certified laboratory.