Natchitoches Drinking Water

[Mary F. Striegel]

Where does your drinking water come from?
Sibley Lake is the surface water source for City of Natchitoches Drinking Water. This water is treated then provided to your tap. While water treatment removes most contaminants, it is important to keep pollution, chemicals, and contaminants out of the watershed that flows to Sibley Lake.

Why is it important to protect your drinking water?
A person can survive without food for more than a month, but less than a week without water! You and your family need clean drinking water to thrive and remain healthy.

What can you do about it?
* Urge the City to place houses surrounding Sibley Lake on the city's sewer treatment system.
* Require the City to serve notice to owners of malfunctioning septic systems about repair or replacement
* Stay informed by asking to be placed on the LDEQ permit notice mailing list:

Contact the LDEQ Public Participation Group in writing at LDEQ, P.O. Box 4313, Baton Rouge, LA, 70821-4313
By email at [e-mail] or Contact the LDEQ Service Center at 225-219-5337

Protest any new polluting of our drinking water source — Sibley Lake

Facts:
* The City of Natchitoches serves 25,000 people in the city and surrounding area with drinking water.
* The City controls Sibley Lake and a buffer around it
* The Police Jury controls the watershed feeding the lake
* The City provides drinking water to residents in the watershed.
* Sewage disposal in the watershed is from on site septic systems around Sibley Lake, many of which are malfunctioning (estimated total of 650 onsite septic systems) Sewage is entering Sibley Lake.
* LDEQ has a grants program to help Sibley Lake Homeowners upgrade their septic systems

Protect Sibley Lake from further pollution!