Bossier City may extend 2018 water study that began after discovery of brain-eating amoeba

A years-long Bossier City water system study spurred by the discovery of brain-eating amoeba in the water supply may once again be extended if the city council agrees. This time, the extension will cost $400,000 of the city’s American Rescue Plan funds.

The purpose of the study is to determine if nanofiltration could eliminate enough organics from Bossier City water to use free chlorine in lieu of chloramines, according to the Bossier City Council ordinance that would allow the extension.

In Sept. 2018, a portion of the water system in South Bossier tested positive for brain-eating amoeba. The amoeba, naegleria fowleri, infects people by entering the nose then the brain, and was found to be present after a random test conducted by the Lousiana Department of Health.

The Council will vote on the $400,000 extension at their May 17 meeting. The study began in 2019.

If agreed upon, the extension will provide another nine months to conduct the study and will focus on manganese removal by studying enhanced sedimentation and process treatment techniques for organic removal, according to the aforementioned ordinance.

The Bossier City Council asked City Engineer Benjamin Rauschenbach about the study at the Council's Tuesday meeting.

"Those pressures that ruptured the membrane and got all the organics through, we want to study some different membranes that are tighter and stronger so that that won’t happen,” Rauschenbach said.

Councilman Chris Smith questioned if the filtration system would be for nothing once the water leaves the plant because during its journey through the city’s 70-year-old pipes, it would assuredly pick up contaminants.

“Would we be better served taking American Rescue Plan money - which is probably only going to happen once in our lifetimes - and invest that into underground infrastructure?” Smith asked Rauschenbach.

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Rauschenbach assured Smith of the up-to-now success of nanofiltration.

“We realize its a hard ask. This is not something that anybody in the state of Louisiana is doing," Rauschenbach said. "We feel passionate about it but it takes money and the reason we’re doing it is because we feel long term for Bossier its going to be best to get off chlorinated water and onto free chlorine water and to do that we have to have another mechanism in our process. So that in itself is a whole lot of time and energy is the best I can condense it for the council."

The extension was scheduled to be decided at the May 3 meeting, but the council voted to postpone after a motion to do so from Commissioner Brian Hammons. Two council members voted against that motion: Smith and council president Don Williams.

Later in the meeting, the Council voted to expand the city's contract with Rauschenbach's company Manchac so that the company is now paid $20,000 and will bring in another head engineer to serve for the city alongside Rauschenbach. They must vote to approve the contract at one more meeting before it becomes an official agreement.

Smith felt the Council should field more companies for their services before approving this contract with Manchac.

"You can go look but you will never find someone more passionate about this city's infrastructure than I am," Rauschenbach said.

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Smith also felt the contract should include a clause allowing the city to exit the contract within 30 days of notice.

"It's a 66 percent increase and we're giving a 66 percent increase to any other city employee," Smith said. "We're seeing city employees leave left and right and I can't in good conscious give a 66 percent increase to any one department."

The contract was approved in a 4-2 vote. Smith and Hammons voted against it.

Kendrick Dante writes for the USA Today Network and is a government watchdog reporter in Shreveport, Louisiana. He enjoys cooking, concerts, and content. Email him at kdbrown1@gannett.com or connect on Twitter @kendrickdante.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Bossier City may extend water study for brain-eating amoeba