Yesterday, the town of St. Joseph Louisiana—after suffering from years without clean water or civilization as the rest of us know it, got an early Christmas present. The Governor of LA declared a state of water emergency. This follows in the footsteps of Flint and a USA Today series that exposed chronic problems associated with water infrastructure-inequality in rural American.
This small town with a per capita income of $9000 and a mayor that is under investigation for fiscal wrongdoing, has suffered through years of black or orange water, constant boil water alerts, school shutdowns for lack of clean water, multiple utility violations for failures to monitor and alert the public, and continual assurances that the water was “safe” (Figure 1). Residents have been fighting for years, but in the end, it took dogged persistence by locals and their advocates, media attention, and a little bit of independent water testing to bring clean water to these long-ignored residents.
The final battle started in early 2016, when residents hopes of a petition to the White House for help in obtaining clear water, fell short because this town of fewer than 1200 people couldn’t muster the 100,000 required signatures. In March and April of 2016, our colleague Dr. Adrienne Katner of LSU Health Sciences Center sent water sampling kits to a few residents from Flintwaterstudy.org. Dr. Katner found elevated levels of lead as high as 42 ppb. Legendary activist Wilma Subra has also been engaged in this battle. We have presented on St. Joe’s water woes at national conferences.
Thus empowered with information that there was a problem, citizens started to get some traction. The state started investigating further, and they also found elevated lead and copper. Advocate pressure added fuel to the fire, and on Dec 16, 2016, Governor John Bel Edwards signed the declaration, which stated:
“The Town of St. Joseph has experienced water problems for years due to the poorly maintained and deteriorating water distribution system. Frequent breaks in the water distribution system provide a potential health risk because of the drop in water pressure. Out of an abundance of caution, the Louisiana Department of Health recommends that residents use an alternative source of water for personal consumption, including making ice, brushing teeth or using it for food preparation and rinsing of foods.”
The residents have been promised potable water until long-term solutions can be found.
Under the leadership of Dr. Katner. Flintwaterstudy has continued to conduct sampling with St. Joseph residents.
Below is a short Flintwaterstudy video interview of Dr. Katner, who “crossed the imaginary line” to help expose, and help correct this environmental injustice. Congrats to everyone who helped the residents of St. Joe to get clean water.
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