The St. Bernard Story

From building a pumping system to convey oxidation pond water to the Mississippi River to dispersing the effluent over the wetland: St. Bernard's story

     St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana has been discharging its treated effluent into the Poydras-Verret wetland for approximately 40 years. Effluent from the Gore St. oxidation pond flows into the Forty Arpent canal and then is pumped at the Gore St. Pumping Station into the wetland. The U.S. EPA recently imposed standard limits on the oxidation pond effluent that are typical for municipal dischargers, but stricter than those currently achieved by the Parish. The Parish considered building a pumping system to convey the oxidation pond effluent to the Mississippi River. As an alternative to this, the Parish is considering dispersing the effluent over the wetland. An Ecological Baseline Study (EBS) was initiated to determine what effect the effluent has had on the wetland.

     Study results indicated little if any demonstrable negative impact of the discharge on the wetland. Regular discharge of freshwater into the wetland area has maintained a small portion of the extensive cypress swamp that was killed when the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet was constructed. There was some regeneration of cypress in this area. The brackish and saline wetlands in the area are healthy and productive. Substantial reductions of TSS, NO3, NH4, PO4 occur across the wetland and at the outlet are similar to values in Violet Canal and the control wetland. Soils showed no deficiency or toxicity problems for the major nutrients and metals analyzed.

     Comite Resources, Inc. is assisting St. Bernard Parish in collecting and preparing the technical information for state and federal permits. This cost effective alternative to conventional sewage treatment is designed to meet the new stricter environmental regulations based the President's Clean Water Action Plan and the National Strategy for the Development of Regional Nutrient Criteria http://www.epa.gov/OST/standards . Soon you will look back at all those regulatory hassles as a quaint, old-fashion horror story, thanks to innovative environmental solutions from Comite Resources, Inc.. In the very near future, our vision of a new approach to wastewater treatment will make use of wetlands to manage the flow of effluents safely and inexpensively.