Officials cancel watershed hearing

A public hearing scheduled Tuesday on a plan to address total dissolved solids for Bayou Manchac watershed has been canceled because state and federal officials decided it’s not needed.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality was developing a plan to address total dissolved solids, including chlorides and sulfates, in the Bayou Manchac watershed and determine the Total Maximum Daily Load.

However, only two pollutants, chlorides and sulfates, are a problem for aquatic life in the area, DEQ officials said.

DEQ told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that like other states, Louisiana felt that looking at only sulfates and chlorides would be protective of the watershed and less restrictive for East Baton Rouge Parish, said Rodney Mallett, DEQ spokesman.

EPA agreed and said that based on the levels of chlorides and sulfates in the watershed, there was no need to develop a Total Maximum Daily Load report, Mallett said.

Because the draft Total Maximum Daily Load plan has been withdrawn, the public hearing was canceled, according to a public notice from DEQ.

This Total Maximum Daily Load report is part of the Clean Water Act which requires states to assess water bodies and watersheds to determine the maximum amount of pollution that water body can take and still meet water quality standards.

Originally, DEQ was developing a plan for Bayou Manchac that included Bayou Fountain, Ward Creek, Ward Creek Diversion Canal, Welsh Gully, Cotton Bayou and Muddy Creek in an area of southern East Baton Rouge Parish and northern Ascension Parish.

There is a Total Maximum Daily Load report in place that covers dissolved oxygen in this area.

However, the standard for chlorides and sulfates was outdated, said Sam Phillips, assistant secretary of DEQ’s Office of Environmental Services.

“It was way over-protective of what it could be to be protective of the environment,” he said.

After this experience, Phillips said DEQ staff is going back and looking at other standards used in the reports across the state to see if they are set where they need to be or are too high or too low for environmental protection.

Jennah Durant, with the EPA’s Region 6 Office of External Affairs, said generally every state reviews its water quality standards periodically and many states are re-evaluating these types of standards. In addition, states often review criteria as more information and science become available, she said.