Wax Lake East levee construction contract OK’d

Construction is set to start probably in about a month on the Wax Lake East levees, which protect Berwick and Patterson, to raise those levees so that they meet 100-year protection for flood insurance purposes.
On Thursday, the St. Mary Levee District commission approved signing a contract with Southern Constructors in New Iberia for construction to raise the Wax Lake East levees. Southern Constructors submitted a low base bid of $323,023.50 for the project to raise the levees.
The Wax Lake East levees provide flood protection for Berwick and Patterson because the levees go from the Atchafalaya River to the Wax Lake Outlet, St. Mary Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte said.
The project consists of raising sections of a 2,700-foot long levee stretch by one-half foot to one and a half feet in certain spots, Matte said.
After about 30 days, the contractor should be in a position to be able to start construction, Matte said. By the summer of 2015, levee district officials expect to ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to come back and re-evaluate the levees for base flood elevation, Matte said.
“I don’t know that we have a real fear that that levee will be topped, but we know what effect it’s going to have on our flood insurance rates,” Matte said. “So that’s the driver here, without a doubt that’s the driver.”
The levee district already received a permit for the Wax Lake East levee project, Matte said. “From a process standpoint, we’ll go ahead and go through with construction, get our final report from the contractor certifying all of the elevations; then we’ll have to call in the corps at that point to come back and re-evaluate those things.”
The corps originally told levee district officials that the Wax Lake East levees showed five-foot to six-foot deficiencies for flood protection, Matte said. Levee district officials disagreed on the levee deficiencies so the corps reissued a report in May 2013, Matte said.
“When we had them come back and do the re-evaluation … they came back and said ‘OK, we agree with you,’” Matte said. “They did the stability analysis that they need to do also, and it passed all of those tests. So its only deficiency is elevation.” The project to raise the Wax Lake East levees is aimed at solving those elevation deficiencies and providing 100-year storm surge protection, Matte said.
Also at Thursday’s meeting, Kevin O’Gorman of T. Baker Smith said geotechnical work should wrap up next week for the Morgan City Levee Improvements Project between Lake End Park and the Atchafalaya River levee.
O’Gorman and Matte met with Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development officials to discuss the portion of the levee alignment that will use La. 70 as part of the levee and flood protection system, O’Gorman said. The meeting was generally “very positive,” and department officials are open to considering the levee alignment, he said.
The levee district commission approved a change Thursday in the Eustis Engineering contract for geotechnical work on the Morgan City Levee Improvements project.
On Nov. 14, levee district officials attended a briefing on the periodic levee inspections, Matte said. These types of inspections are done about once every five years, Matte said. Overall, the parish’s federal levee systems were deemed minimally acceptable, but certain parts of the levees were determined to be unacceptable, Matte said.
The corps wants the levee district to formulate a response within a year and plan to fix those unacceptable portions within the next two years, Matte said.
At the most recent Association of Levee Boards of Louisiana meeting, one presenter said regulatory agencies are promoting new regulations for the federal government regarding having its construction projects built to a 500-year flood protection standard, Matte said.
“The warning that was issued there is the wording says construction of facilities or federal programs,” Matte said. Levee board officials are concerned about whether this change is a move to try to administratively change the 100-year national flood insurance program standard to a 500-year national flood insurance standard, Matte said.
“It’s just one of those things to put on the radar screen, one of those things that we’ll have to keep watch on to make sure that nothing along those lines comes out of it,” Matte said. The National Flood Insurance Program will be available for renewal in 2017, Matte said.
During the levee district meeting Thursday, the commission approved the district’s 2015 budget totaling $3.88 million. Included in that budget is $1.25 million for the Bayou Chene Flood Protection project and $415,000 for the Franklin Canal Pump Station project.
The district’s projected revenue for 2015 is roughly $3.5 million. “This does provide a budget that shows more expenditures than revenue, but it is covered by our fund balance,” Matte said. The estimated ending 2015 fund balance is $6.7 million, Matte said.
In other business, the commission:
—Approved the 2014 amended budget.
—Approved the 2015 meeting schedule.
—Approved a request to increase the district’s annual contract with CB&I for administrative services from $24,000 to $29,000.
—Approved amending the Master Service Agreement for the name change of CB&I Government Solutions or CB&I Coastal Inc., which was Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure Inc. or Shaw Coastal Inc.