ST. MARTIN PARISH — After receiving nearly $10 million in grant funding, major infrastructure projects are now underway to improve the sewage system in St. Martinville,. Audrey Allen, owner of Clambeaugh’s Restaurant, has seen firsthand how water and drainage issues have impacted day-to-day operations.
“I think in the last six years we’ve had a big problem with the water and them staying on top of it,” Allen said.
Allen, who has run the local eatery for 30 years, noted that water infrastructure problems are often invisible to the average customer but represent one of the restaurant’s biggest ongoing challenges.
“For many years, like right now, I’m in my 30th year here at Clambeaugh’s and a lot of people don’t look at the day-to-day activities, water is the biggest problem,” she explained.
Allen emphasized the vital role local businesses play in shaping the city’s reputation.
“As a business, we represent — and I cannot stress this enough — we represent the town of St. Martinville. The business is the face of St. Martinville. So if we fail to accommodate visitors, we are not only hurting ourselves, but the community itself suffers.”
The city’s multimillion-dollar wastewater overhaul is being led by McBade and Associates, the engineering firm contracted by St. Martinville. Pamela Granger, the firm’s principal engineer, explained that the work is part of a three-phase project funded through the Louisiana Water Sector Grant and remaining funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
They recently completed the first phase, which involved extensive smoke testing.
“We repaired 170 places within the entire city,” Granger said. “When you combine the whole project, I think we’re looking at 5.36 million [dollars] for the pump stations, the sewer rehab and the sewer extension.”
Currently in its second phase, the project is focused on upgrading the city’s pumping stations.
“Not only will you not have as many sewer backups, but when you have rain events, a lot of those places—drainage water can enter your sewer system, and then it overtaxes your pump station and your sewer system as well,” she added.
In addition to these improvements, a significant portion of the funding comes from the Louisiana Watershed Initiative—a $4.2 million grant created in response to the 2016 floods.
“While the money was drainage related, it was also related to flood-proofing any of your other critical infrastructure that can adversely impact your city.” Granger says.
This next phase includes extending the sewer line down main street. Another project involves upgrades to treatment ponds and raising surrounding levees to improve flood resilience.
“The second major grant is with the Louisiana Watershed Initiative, so you have several treatment ponds associated with the City of St. Martinville treatment system, and the levees around here need to be raised,” Granger explained.
Construction on the levee project is expected to begin in just over a year, while work on the pumping stations is projected to be completed within the next 18 months.
For Allen, safety is just as important as efficiency.
Clambeaugh’s employee Mary Martha Pierre echoed Allen’s concerns and encouraged more people to speak up about issues they experience.
“Don’t sit back and talk about it between yourselves. Go to your mayor, go to your councilmen,” Pierre said.
Both Allen and Pierre say they’re optimistic about the future and hope these improvements will bring long-needed relief to the city’s drainage.
