Editing St. Joseph, Louisiana (section)

===Water system===
In December 2012, St. Joseph residents were placed under an advisory to boil their drinking water because of problems with the aging municipal water system. A mechanical failure at the town treatment plant caused a sudden drop in the water supply. In March 2013, a water main cracked. There are leaks at the base of the city water tower. [[Louisiana State Legislature|State Senator]] [[Francis C. Thompson]], whose district includes Tensas Parish, sought emergency funding for repairs to the system, which serves about seven hundred customers.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20130510/NEWS01/305100040/Funds-sought-fix-St-Joseph-s-water-system|title=Funds sought to fix St. Joseph's water system, May 10, 2013|newspaper=Monroe News-Star|access-date= May 11, 2013}}</ref>

In 2016 the town had failed to obtain an approved town audit for the financial year ending 2015, needed by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor's Office to enable progress on the funds. In 2015, it received $553,000 in grants towards the issue. More than $6 million is available once the town's audit is approved by the Auditor's Office.<ref name="s293">{{Cite web |last=Lenox |first=Bob |date=January 22, 2016 |title=Water woes plague St. Joseph |url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/2016/01/22/water-woes-plague-st-joseph/79172870/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |website=The News-Star |language=en-US}}</ref>

In December 2016, [[Governor of Louisiana|Governor]] [[John Bel Edwards]] vowed to replace the entire St. Joseph water system. Engineer [[Bryant Hammett]], a Democratic former state representative who performed similar work in his native [[Ferriday, Louisiana|Ferriday]], predicted the project, estimated at $9 million, could be finished by  September 2017. Residents were urged not to drink the water or use it in cooking, but they can use it for bathing or washing clothing. The Governor's Office of Homeland Security was providing bottled drinking water for St. Joseph residents.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/2016/12/19/governor-st-joe-residents-were-you/95605126/|title=Governor to St. Joe residents: 'We're in this with you'|newspaper=The Monroe News-Star|author=Greg Hilburn|date=December 19, 2016|access-date=December 20, 2016}}</ref>