Geismar residents pushing back on proposed regional sewage plant location

UPDATE: As of July 31, NWI has stopped its active pursuit of the property identified near highway 73 and North of Highway 30. In a statement to WAFB, National Water Infrastructure attorney and representative Ben Hunter said:

"The decision to stop our pursuit of the property near Hwy. 73 and North of Hwy. 30 is largely based on the feedback that we have received from the community, and NWI values that input. As mentioned at the Town Hall, NWI never stopped our search and we will continue to evaluate alternative properties. However, we will not be commenting further on our search as it is an active and ongoing process.”

GEISMAR, La. (WAFB) - Residents in Ascension Parish are pushing back on a proposed location for a regional sewer plant that would back up to some neighborhoods.

This began when parish officials sold all of the parish’s sewer assets to the National Water Infrastructure (NWI). The regional sewer plant would consolidate 72 existing treatment plants that are currently located in neighborhoods and direct them to one regional plant. It would remove around 3.5 million gallons of water from local ditches and waterways to be treated at the new plant and then released into the Mississippi River.

NWI officials say this project is much needed.

“The waterways in Ascension Parish have become environmentally impaired through the years, and wastewater is in people’s front yards once it’s treated,” NWI’s Ben Hunter says.

Attorney Ben Hunter with NWI says there would be a 50-foot tree buffer, along with additional land that would separate the site from homes.

“We believe modern technology will allow us to construct a site at this location that residents will not hear, they will not see, they will not smell, and it will not impact traffic through their area,” Hunter says.

But residents like Brittany Prout don’t think this location will be far enough away. The main concerns, along with the potential odor, have to do with the value of homes decreasing when this plant is built.

“It’s hard because some of us have put down roots in Ascension Parish; we have put our forever homes here, and we don’t want this to disturb what we have built up,” Prout says.

Residents near the proposed site have gathered almost 200 signatures for a petition to bring to the Parish clock meeting now pushed to August 20 at 6pm, where discussions of the treatment plant will continue. The meeting was originally scheduled for August 15.

A meeting on July 22 was organized by concerned residents who wanted to voice their questions and concerns. Samantha Leach and others say they didn’t get the answers they were looking for.

“I don’t think that they really targeted the main question, and it’s ‘why is the proposed site here’ in what they’re considering as an industrial area where we are so close to so many neighborhoods,” Leach says.

NWI’s Ben Hunter says property values actually have the potential to increase around the parish with this proposed site and project.

“Bringing raw sewage out of people’s front yards and out of local waterways that are no longer recreationally used because they’re environmentally impaired will benefit the entire parish and property values throughout the parish,” Hunter says.

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