Water pressure back to normal; mayor thanks residents for conservation efforts made

Published 9:04 pm Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Many areas throughout Southwest Louisiana experienced water service issues over the weekend due to the dramatically low temperatures that occurred.

In Lake Charles, many homeowners and businesses experienced low water pressure. Due to this low pressure, Waterworks District 5 of Wards 3 and 8, Mallard Junction – East and Southeast of Lake Charles, issued a boil advisory on Friday, Dec. 23. The cause of the low water pressure was attributed to the low temperatures, according to the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury.

It was recommended that all residents in the affected areas disinfect their water before using it in any way that would lead to consumption.

The boil order for this district was lifted Wednesday as it was confirmed by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals’ Office of Public Health that the water was no longer at risk of being contaminated.

Waterworks District 2 of Ward 4, Mossville, and Waterworks District 12 of Ward 3, Big Lake – South Lake Charles Area, at no point during the freeze event were under a boil advisory.

Throughout the duration of the freeze event, all city of Lake Charles water plants remained fully operational, said Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter. He said some homeowners did experience decreased water pressure, stating the freezing temperatures led to higher water usage.

“Some customers did see a dip in water pressure due, in large part, to the ‘drip demand’ placed on the system and broken pipes on private lines.”

Hunter took to his Facebook page to keep Lake Charles residents updated throughout the weekend. In a post made on Dec. 23, he said that while the water system was not struggling as much as it did during the freeze of February 2021, issues were still arising. “The last 24 hours has been a challenge to our system.”

Residents were asked to reduce their water usage. During widespread freeze events, it is common for homeowners to “drip” their faucets to prevent damage to their plumbing systems. While recognizing this practice, the city requested that residents conserve water by only dripping one faucet and turning them off during the day once temperatures rose above freezing. “Water conservation will allow our above-ground storage tanks to refill,” Hunter said on the same post.

The Lake Charles water system is designed to pump about 22 million gallons of water a day, Hunter explained. It was estimated that if every resident dripped multiple faucets for 24 hours straight, an additional 55 million gallon strain would be placed on the water system.

On Monday night, the city confirmed that most customers witnessed the return of adequate water pressure, but said multi-story buildings might still experience decreased water pressure.

Hunter thanked Lake Charles residents for coming together as a community to conserve water.

“We would also like to thank our customers for doing their part to help us valve off leaks on private property and responding to our calls for water conservation,” he said.

Hunter also recognized the effort of the employees who worked over the holiday weekend. “We would like to thank our personnel who worked so diligently over a stretch of several days, including Christmas Eve and Christmas day.” He continued by stating that these employees monitored plant operations and identified and shut off leaks throughout the city during the event, allowing “the vast majority of users to get through the event with very little interruption.”

“We will continue to assess our system and practices to ensure we are serving our customers at the highest level.”