By T. Scott Boatright
A boil order issued in the midst of a water crisis the city of Grambling had been facing since last week was lifted Wednesday afternoon.
That crisis began last week when lightning struck a tree, knocking it down. The combination of the lightning strike and the tree falling into a water main located in a ravine near Mockingbird Lane caused a massive leak.
Workers eventually found the leak deep in the woods in a ravine off of Mockingbird Lane and were able to reroute Grambling’s water supply around the damage.
But the drain the leak caused on the city’s water supply resulted in low chlorine levels while Grambling’s water supply was being recharged, resulting in the boil later.
That situation changed Wednesday afternoon when city officials received results of the latest testing of Grambling’s water.
“The chlorine levels are back to normal so the boil order is lifted,” said Grambling mayor Edward Jones.
During a special called City Council meeting on Tuesday Jones said that funding was in place for the Grambling to be able to make permanent repairs to the leak.
“Around 400 feet of that pipe has to be replaced,” Jones said. “Thank God we got a call from Baton Rouge and were able to apply for the Community Water Enrichment Fund Grant with which we were able to get $69,300. That money will be used to replace around 400 linear feet of pipe that is in a ravine off of Mockingbird.”
Jones said $60,000 of the grant was to cover construction costs and the other $9,300 was for miscellaneous funding reasons.
Grambling’s City Council passed a motion to approve the grant application 5-0.
Jones said Wednesday that the application had already been submitted.
“It’s been sent and now we just wait to find out when we’ll receive the funding,” Jones said.
Jones added that while he would like to see the permanent repairs done as soon as possible, there is no desperate push needed to speed up the process.
“The emergency repairs we made are doing great and look like they’ll last as long as we need them,” Jones said. “We’re just happy funding was available for this kind of thing and that we’ll be able to make permanent repairs so quickly.
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