HURRICANE UNIFIED COMMAND
St. Tammany Parish

DEQ
LOUISIANA^
Progress Report





1st.,Tammany Parish



Orleans
St. James


St Charles

Jefferson

St. Bernard ^

Plaquemines

Lafourche
Terrebonne

Since September 2005, the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the Louisiana
Department of Environmental
Quality (LDEQ) have worked
together to address environ-
mental hazards from Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita to help
St. Tammany Parish recover.
One of EPA and LDEQ's first
priorities was to ensure resi-
dents returning to all the cities
affected by the hurricanes had
safe drinking water. Throughout
Louisiana, assessments were
conducted at drinking water
facilities, of which 72 were in St.
Tammany Parish. Similarly, 316
wastewater treatment plants
were assessed for damage.
Next, EPA and LDEQ turned to
federally-permitted facilities.
The agencies conducted inter-
views and site visits at hazard-
ous waste storage, transfer or
disposal facilities from February
20th to March 6th. During this
time, 562 facilities in southern
Louisiana were addressed, in-
cluding 63 facilities in St. Tam-
many Parish. The site visits and
interviews established that employees could return to work at facili-
ties operating in accordance with federal and state regulations.
Because of concerns that damaged chemicals in school biology and
chemistry laboratories could cause a health hazard, EPA and LDEQ
conducted assessments at 362 schools in southern Louisiana.
Some chemical containers were found to be damaged by the hurri-
canes, by flood waters and/or from heat exposure. EPA and LDEQ,
in coordination with the Louisiana State Police and local fire depart-
ments, removed dangerous chemicals from 116 schools in south-
ern Louisiana. Sixty-four schools in St. Tammany Parish were as-
sessed; chemicals were removed from four of them.
Paint, computers, washing machines, and refrigerators in homes
under normal circumstances are not usually considered hazardous.
However, when hundreds of thousands of these items become
waste products at the same time, the hazardous components in
them could create problems. To help remove these materials from
the waste going to Louisiana's municipal landfills, EPA and LDEQ col-
lected 237,626 units consisting of appliances, hazardous waste con-
tainers, and home electronics. The hazardous materials were recycled
or disposed in landfills designed to handle them safely. In St. Tam-
many Parish, EPA and LDEQ have disposed of 1,044,376 pounds of
waste as of August 31, 2007.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
ATAGUNCE
316
Wastewater Facility

Assessments*
72
Drinking Water Plant

Assessments
63
Industry Damage

Assessments
134,924
Hazardous Waste

Containers Collected
16,340
Electronic Items

Collected
86,362
White Goods Collected
33,269
# of Appliances from

which Freon was

Extracted
83,144
Pounds of

Ammunition/Explosives

Collected*
1.044,376
Pounds of Cumulative

Waste Disposed
64
School Lab Assessments
In response to community concerns about potential harm from fire-
arms, ammunition and explosives, EPA began collecting these materi-
als for appropriate
disposal in January
2006. In southeast-
ern Louisiana par-
ishes, 2,094 firearms
and 83,144 pounds of
ammunition, explo-
sives, fireworks and
other similar items
were collected. As of
August 31, 2007,
across southern Lou-
isiana, a total of 2,318
firearms and 96,632
pounds of ammuni-
tion, explosives, fire-
works and other simi-
lar items have been
collected.
Left: EPA collecting
hazardous waste
containers.
^Reflects more than St. Tammany Parish activities

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