Years ago there seemed to be a city policy to alert a neighborhood if the water was to be turned off for any period of time. Do we no longer have such a policy?

I am glad for the repair work, but yesterday the city turned off our water while I was trying to make supper and it was off for nearly three hours. And then this morning they came and turned it off again before 9 o’clock, and it has been off for an hour, very inconvenient for breakfast or dressing. 

I would have appreciated knowing that the water would be off at least 10 minutes ahead of time to allow me to do anything that absolutely had to have water or delay any activity that could wait. Can we put this policy back into place?

City Administrator John Cardone said the water department “makes every effort” to inform residents about service disruptions.

“In the case of planned projects, the city’s public information office issues news releases in advance and public works employees place door tags on residences that will be affected,” Cardone said in a statement forwarded to The Informer.

“In other cases, such as when a water main breaks, emergency repairs are necessary to resume normal operations and water supply to homes.”

The latter was the case on June 5, he said, when workers had to repair a water main on Holly Street after business hours. Cardone said public works employees knocked on the doors of affected residences to inform people of the broken water main and the repair work.

“We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the water service interruption on Holly Street,” he said, “and will evaluate our current communication strategies with residents in an effort to improve our service.”

 www.cityoflakecharles.com.

 

Rase: Residual cargo put into warehouse

I was visiting the Port of Lake Charles the other day and I saw them unloading some kind of chemical or white stuff off of a ship, and they put it in a hopper.

The trucks would go to the hopper and when the trucks were full they would drive off and they didn’t close the bottom of the hopper. It didn’t seem safe to me.

Does the chemical just wash down into the water?

“The cargo is discharged from the vessel using a clamshell bucket. The clamshell bucket places the cargo in a hopper, which empties into a truck,” Bill Rase, Port of Lake Charles executive director, wrote in an email.

“Each truck only holds one load from the bucket. The truck then travels to the warehouse. If any residual from the loading operation exists, a cleaning crew utilizes a bobcat, shovels and brooms to clean the area from time to time. The residual cargo is placed in the warehouse.”

www.portlc.com.

The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.