3 Louisiana-Texas border communities weather ‘perfect storm’ of water outages

(KSLA) — It was the “perfect storm” of water outages for three communities along the Louisiana-Texas line.

Logansport’s water system suffered infrastructure damage on Christmas Eve.

Then Joaquin, Texas, lost both of its water wells.

As a backup, Joaquin usually can draw water from Logansport. But they obviously couldn’t this time.

And Paxton Water Supply, which has its own wells but draws some of its water from Joaquin, was unable to service most of its customers.

Now the water systems in Logansport and Joaquin are finally back up and running while repairs continue to be made to wells. Joaquin is able to supplement its water from Logansport.

And Paxton, which services roughly 650 meters from Joaquin west almost to Tenaha, has half of its system up and running. Its tank is elevated, so it will take time to pressurize.

Paxton’s president, Eric Garrett, told KSLA News 12 that he hopes to have his system fully pressurized by Thursday evening.

As for a boil order, Garrett said they weren’t ordering one locally since there never was a pipeline break and contamination issue. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, however, has put a boil order in place. It’ll be up to that commission to lift it.

Garrett also told KSLA News 12 that he’s very grateful to the crews, private-sector leadership and volunteer labor, including neighboring counties and fire departments from throughout the region, who helped them get through the past few days.

Copyright 2022 KSLA. All rights reserved.