CARENCRO, La. — The city has dealt with brown water issues for many years now, but that all can be a thing of the past thanks to a waterline replacement project.
The culprit behind the discolored water? Aging, over a century-old cast iron pipes. Solution? Replacing them with a few thousand feet of plastic piping, 100 new water valves and 39 new fire hydrants. Not only will the waterlines be changed but the city was granted a "walkability grant" to help freshen up the sidewalks to meet ADA compliance standards. Which have been around since horses and buggies were the mode of transportation.
Brian Viator purchased his home over 30 years ago on E. Saint Peter Street where the construction will take place and is looking forward to the new pipes and new sidewalks around him.
"It will add beauty because these things are antique, they were probably made in the 30s and over time they patched them up," he says. "So it's going to be really nice when that’s done, its gonna be an inconvenience while its going on but what’s the old saying to have progress, you have to have inconvenience with it.”
KATC spoke with Charlotte Clavier, Mayor of Carencro about the reasons behind replacing the waterlines.
“They are all deteriorating so they have rust on the inside. I was actually shown a sample of the pipe and the rust is sticky and that’s what’s coming through peoples homes, so we get brown water complaints but it's all that rust."
The project will take about 4-6 months to complete, to read which streets will be affected. Click here.
