(The Center Square) — The city of Bogalusa has had a tough couple years.
Financial mismanagement has gotten the city placed under fiscal administration for the second time in six years, the mayor is under investigation in connection with an arms and narcotics ring, the city’s population is declining and its infrastructure is crumbling.
Now, the city is under criminal investigation by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality for the city’s failing sewage system.
In early January, the city was issued a compliance order from the Louisiana Department of Health. The order details five statutory violations, including environmental and health hazards, and repeated compliance failures and negligence. It also details corrective actions that must be implemented.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has cited the city of Bogalusa for multiple sewage overflows, leaks and infrastructure failures.
Officials found raw sewage discharging from a home into a nearby ditch due to a broken sewer connection; manholes showed signs of overflow, with sludge and sewage debris visible on the ground.
At the city’s wastewater treatment plant, primary screw pumps were inoperable, requiring emergency pumps to move sewage. Multiple lift stations had recorded overflows, heavy sludge buildup, and broken discharge lines, with only one operational pump per station — violating state standards.
Additionally, the system is not being run by a properly certified operator available for on-site response within one hour.
The latest incident happened after the compliance order was issued, in late January when 1,300 gallons of sewage overflowed just yards from Bogalusa Creek, which feeds into the Pearl River. Inspectors do not indicate that the river was contaminated.
“The city has dug out the contaminated area, hauled off dirt and disinfected with bleach,” inspectors wrote.
An incident at the same location and of the same cause happened just eight months prior. In that inspection, sewage was found to have leaked into a Bogalusa creek for 13 days. In both inspections, contact was not made with Mayor Tryin Truong.
The cause in both incidents was a malfunctioning pump, a familiar issue in Bogalusa. Malfunctioning and broken pumps and collapsed pipes are documented throughout inspection records from LDEQ.
A review of compliance history details leaks and overflows into yards, creeks and streets lasting weeks. Between two inspections, the city had five sanitary sewer overflows in the collection system, three of which the volume and length of the leak are unknown and four of which were not reported by the city.
According to Department of Environmental Quality inspectors, these issues were addressed and work orders were issued.
“I observed an active overflow of sewage at the corner of Lucerne Ave. and Potomac St. from a broken sewer main flowing into a storm grate,” the inspector wrote. According to the inspection, the leak went on for approximately four to six hours totaling approximately 12 gallons.
A sanitary sewer overflow occurs when untreated or partially treated sewage is discharged from a sewer system before it reaches a treatment facility. This can happen due to blockages, excessive stormwater inflow, infrastructure failures, or power outages.
An incident in 2024 left residents with “raw sewage in their homes and on the property, which is an unsafe and unsanitary violation of living standards set forth by the State of Louisiana Health and Human Services.”
According to the compliance order from the health department, reinspections found that corrective actions were not completed.
“To date, the Office of Public Health has not received verification of compliance with the required corrective actions in the Notice of Violation letters listed above,” the health department wrote.
