Broussard

Meet a community with a bold and aggressive vision

      The challenges of wastewater management go far deeper then conventional methods of treating effluent; complexities exist throughout the regulatory arena as environmental issues, operations cost, maintenance expenditures and energy cost.

     According to Dr. John Day, of Comite Resources: "wetland wastewater assimilation is not just about achieving the ideal of low cost wastewater management. The true spirit of wetland wastewater assimilation is about using the free energies of the natural system, that are capable of and efficient at driving the cycle of production, use, degradation, and reuse. The basic principle underlying wetland wastewater assimilation is that the rate of application must balance the rate of decay or immobilization. The primary mechanisms by which this balance is achieved are physical settling and filtration, chemical precipitation and adsorption, and biological metabolic processes resulting in eventual burial, storage in vegetation, and denitrification"

      So, before you spend a single dollar or think about meeting new regulations, take a step back and think about your overall wastewater management strategy. The keys to an overall wetland wastewater assimilation strategy? Assessment, regulatory and management. It's a fact: the environment, especially the wetlands, is a dynamic, complex environment. Planning for today's reality is not enough; an effective wetland wastewater strategy must be able to react to and accommodate the shifts, big and small, that are inevitable on the state and federal stage. Lets take a look at some of the steps the Town of Broussard intends to follow to leverage wetland wastewater assimilation: comprehensive wetland assessment, wetland acquisition, wetland enhancement, preservation, and education.

     Choosing and prioritizing wastewater strategies is the first step in a comprehensive management strategy. Let's divide the task into two categories: conventional wastewater management and use of natural wetlands. First let's look at the conventional. Where is the City of Broussard going to go for increased wastewater treatment capability. Will the present treatment system meet projected population growth? Will the present treatment system meet new proposed state and federal water quality standards?

     "Look first to see what other cities and towns - Thibodaux, Breaux Bridge - have similar attributes to your current ones in terms of discharge, population increase, and overall potential for using natural wetlands for wastewater assimilation."

     Conversely, what cities and towns should you rule out? Are there towns whose wastewater strategy is too expensive? Or towns with insufficient acres of wetlands to meet your wastewater treatment model? Second, look at your community. Where is the population located today? Are there aspects of your location that are limited/amplified by the environment.? By economics? By the composition of the wastewater? By wetland composition? By competing uses? What is it about your environment that can be leveraged to enable you to utilize new technologies and cut your operating expenses? While these considerations are only the beginning of an overall strategy, they will have important implications when we begin to talk about a comprehensive wetland wastewater assimilation strategy.