Louisiana Releases Final Grades on All Community Water Systems

On Monday, May 1, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) released [www.ldh.la.gov/watergrade] final water grades for 951 community water systems in Louisiana in order to create accountability for water systems and provide transparency for customers. The final water grades follow preliminary grades that were published in January. The preliminary grades may not have included data for financial sustainability, customer satisfaction or bonus points awarded to a water system. The new data included in calculating the final grades will mean letter grade changes for some water systems. Going forward, water system grades will be published annually on May 1. The water grades were mandated under Act 98 of the 2021 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature, and is known as the Community Drinking Water Accountability Rule.

The grades were calculated using points assigned to seven standards that evaluate the infrastructure, sustainability and overall water quality:

• Federal water quality
• State water quality
• Financial sustainability
• Operation and maintenance
• Infrastructure
• Customer satisfaction
• Secondary contaminants (iron and manganese)