SLIDELL, La. (WGNO) — Paulette Sanders has lived in the Cross Gates subdivision in Slidell for nearly a decade. She says there have always been issues with the water, but nothing compared to this past year.
“There’s a lot of itchiness. I purchase bottled water. I do the individual bottles. I purchase gallons and then four times a week, at least, I boil water on my stove,” says Sanders.
Sanders and other residents tell us a sewer line broke around Easter last year, and residents say there have been issues ever since.
“We gave our dog a bath right around Easter, and a couple of days later, she started eating at her fur, before you know it, half of the fur on her body was gone,” said Armand Duvio, a Cross Gates resident.
It’s not just pets affected by the water. Residents say it has been making them sick.
“There’s a lot of people complaining about rashes, burns, urinary tract infections,” said Sanders.
The St. Tammany Parish council held a meeting earlier this week to address the water issues. At the meeting, several council members demanded answers from Parish President Mike Cooper, who did not attend.
Cooper released a statement in response to the meeting and last year’s sewer line break saying,
“There was no cross-contamination into our water system. This is not an opinion, but a proven fact with more than 280 tests to prove it,”
Cooper went on to demand a public apology from several council members for comments made during the meeting.
Meanwhile, residents say they continue to deal with water issues, with no end in sight.
“Something needs to be done, I think it’s been going on long enough. The community, I think everyone is in an uproar right now,” said Duvio.
We reached out to Jerry Binder, one of the council members Parish President Cooper called on for a public apology. He provided us with this statement that reads in part:
“There does need to be a public apology. Parish President Mike Cooper needs to apologize to ‘all the citizens’ who continued to drink and use Tammany Utilities water during a serious utilities event,”
There’s also a chlorine burn scheduled for Cross Gates and surrounding areas scheduled for April 25.