LAFAYETTE, La. — The Lafayette Utilities System revealed that it is addressing a backlog of 1,265 work orders for various water issues around Lafayette .
At Tuesday’s City Council Meeting, city officials said they have seen an increase in calls from residents about busted water pipes, and water meters pointing to bigger issues with the city’s water system.
LUS Director Jeffrey Stewart addressed the backlog and the proposed work to repair the city’s water lines.
“We have 289,000 linear feet to replace. It won’t be done overnight but it will be done systematically and programmatically over time to reduce these trouble calls. We’re getting a lot of calls on these lines more than once. We make a repair in front of one house, three to four houses down we’re having to go repair it," said Stewart.
Stewart told City Council officials that LUS is facing challenges like aging infrastructre, weather impact to the water system and a 25% shortage in staff including 13 field positions.
LUS has secured a $5 million dollar state grant for the water leak repairs. The company plans to match that amount with a $5 million dollar investment and is looking for more funding.
“We estimate the total project to be about 90 million dollars…we’re gonna start with the worst case, my intent is to go back until that problem is solved.”
LUS services 76,000 customers across Lafayette- Stewart said LUS is getting those work orders addressed.
“Right now we’re at 1,265 work orders the goal is to get us to 200 because the way it works is we’re closing out 70 work orders in a week and we might get 50 new ones, our goal is to try and accomplish every one of our tasks within three weeks."
No actual timeline was given on when the repair works would commence and how long it will take.
