Yesterday, the town of St. Joseph Louisiana—suffering from years without clean water or civilization as the rest of us know it, got an early Christmas present. The Governor of LA declared a state of water emergency. This follows in the footsteps of Flint and a USA Today series that exposed chronic problems associated with water infrastructure-inequality in rural American.
This small town with a per capita income of $9000, a declining population and a mayor under investigation for fiscal wrongdoing, has suffered through years of black or orange water, constant boil water alerts, school shutdowns for lack of clean water, multiple utility violations for failures to monitor and alert the public—and continued assurances that the water was “safe” (Figure 1). Residents have been fighting for years, but in the end, it took dogged persistence by locals and their advocates, media attention, and a little bit of independent water testing to bring clean water to these long-ignored residents.
The final battle started in early 2016, when residents hopes for a White House petition to help obtain clean water, fell short because this town of fewer than 1200 people couldn’t muster the 100,000 required signatures. In March and April of 2016, our colleague Dr. Adrienne Katner of LSU Health Sciences Center sent water sampling kits to a few residents that were supplied by Flintwaterstudy.org. Dr. Katner found elevated levels of lead as high as 42 ppb. We have since presented on St. Joe’s water woes at national conferences (view or download powerpoint below).
Thus empowered with information that there was a problem, citizens started to get some traction. Things started to really move when Janie Jones (President, Council on Policy & Social Impact) got engaged. Janie coordinated a sampling event with Adrienne and Flintwaterstudy on September 29, 2016, looking for lead and Legionella.
At that point, the state started investigating further, and they also found elevated lead and copper. Advocate pressure added fuel to the fire, and on Dec 16, 2016, Governor John Bel Edwards signed the declaration, which stated:
“The Town of St. Joseph has experienced water problems for years due to the poorly maintained and deteriorating water distribution system. Frequent breaks in the water distribution system provide a potential health risk because of the drop in water pressure. Out of an abundance of caution, the Louisiana Department of Health recommends that residents use an alternative source of water for personal consumption, including making ice, brushing teeth or using it for food preparation and rinsing of foods.”
The residents have been promised potable water until long-term solutions can be found. Congrats to everyone who is helping residents of St. Joe to get clean water. Special thanks to Janie Jones (President, Council on Policy & Social Impact) who told Flintwaterstudy:
“This is just the beginning for St. Joe residents—the hard work is all ahead of us. Let’s remember to keep people at the forefront.”
Legendary activist and MacArthur Fellow Wilma Subra has also been engaged in this battle.
Below is a short Flintwaterstudy video interview of our colleague Dr. Katner (LSU), who risked her career and “crossed the imaginary line” to help expose, and correct, this environmental injustice in St. Joe.
Primary Author: Dr. Marc Edwards
Thank you for this information .
This highlights the policy issue of infra-structure financing and the human rights to safe air , water and soil .As you have outlined, these are not privileges that should assigned on the basis of merit , but are conditions essential to human growth , development , and survival. Our zip code should not determine our life course because of racial , ethnic , economic , and even age segregation.
As a resident of Flint , Michigan , I am encouraged by the alliances you all in Louisiana made to challenge environmental injustice and stand with you .Peace and Power