HJNO Nov/Dec 2023

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  NOV / DEC 2023 57 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalNO.com as moving freshwater intakes farther upriver and sharing them across parish lines, as opposed to having Jefferson Parish, Orleans, Plaquemines, and Saint Bernard with their own set of intakes. We should start to regionalize water planning and water service. It would be better in the end and a whole lot more affordable than going at it piece meal and this kind of lurching from crisis-to-cri- sis mode.” Saltwater has impacted the area before, Ste- phen Murphy, PhD, director of the Disaster Man- agement MPH Program in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine’s Depart- ment of Environmental Health Sciences writes in “5 things to know about the saltwater intrusion of the Mississippi River.” In 1988, the sill was built too late to keep saltwater frommoving as far north as Kenner, which led to the Corps adopting rules now in place that triggered construction of the current sill in July. Murphy’s piece addresses the problems we might we be facing. Saltwater was initially projected to impact the New Orleans area in late October. Surface waters were expected to exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency public water supply standard as a secondary level of 250ppm chloride approxi- mately 15 to 25 miles downstream of the saltwa- ter wedge’s front/toe. WHO drinking guidelines suggest that at approximately 200ppm, people will not want to drink it due to taste. Those with no-salts diets should not exceed 20ppm. The New Orleans water system does not filtrate salt. When saltwater is pumped through a water distribution system it can cause pipes to corrode, potentially leaching heavy metals from the pipes and pipe fittings into drinking water. It is difficult to predict which metals might leach from pipes, as distribution systems are all different and full maps of water systems are not available. A priority of the response will likely include frequent testing of the water that is going through the water systems’ dis- tribution network. Extended saltwater exposure can also lead to pipe failure, which has been the case with burst pipes in lower parish communities already due to exacerbated drought conditions in the soil/ ground causing shifts combined with the weak- ening onset caused by the corrosive saltwater. Agriculture concerns exist as well, with large acreage irrigated by the lower Missisippi River as well as animal farms. Many farmlands downriver of New Orleans have already been impacted. Murphy then shares what is being done to com- bat the issue. The underwater barrier, the sill, will be increased in size. It is believed to be 45 feet high in an area 90 feet deep, and will be increased to 30 feet below surface and extended outward beyond its present 1,500-foot length. A 625-foot-long notch will be maintained in the sill to a depth of 55 feet below the water surface over the river’s navigation channel to allow ocean- going vessels to continue to move up and down river, with special one-way traffic rules. Ocean- going vessels using the river are allowed to have a 50-foot-deep draft, deeper than the new elevated section of the sill if the notch was not built into it. For the East Bank of New Orleans, a pipeline has been proposed to feed the New Orleans main water treatment facility with fresh water sourced 10-12 miles upriver, beyond the anticipated end point of the saltwater wedge. This fresh water will be sourced from a point upriver of a natu- rally occurring barrier – a change in the riverbed topography that experts believe will prevent high salt concentrations from advancing further. The best estimates indicate this pipeline would be able to blend with the higher salt concentrations and dilute the city’s water to an acceptable and drinkable level for most. For the West Bank of Orleans Parish in Algiers, water will be barged in to be mixed with the local water supply to reduce its salt content to healthy levels. In addition, officials will expand point of use testing to keep better awareness of the situa- tion, while reverse-osmosis equipment will be uti- lized as part of the treatment process for water at smaller facilities in Plaquemines Parish. The state is securing pre-made formula for WIC programs to reduce the impacts of poten- tial higher salt content in water for infant formula. The Louisiana Department of Health will con- tinue — along with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) — communicating specific concerns to the public and healthcare systems at https:// gohsep.la.gov/emergency/Saltwater. Current location of the saltwater wedge can be tracked on the US Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District website. Special thanks to Stephen Murphy, PhD, direc- tor of the Disaster Management MPH Program in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences for permission to reproduce parts of: https://sph.tulane.edu/5-things-know-about-salt- water-intrusion-mississippi-river STHS, Ochsner Health Announce FamilyMedicine Residency Program St. Tammany Health System and Ochsner Health have announced the establishment of a first-in- the-region family medicine residency program, set to welcome its inaugural resident class at a purpose-built clinic in north Covington on July 1, 2024. Lisa Casey, MD, program director for the newly ACGME-accredited residency program, will over- see 24 residents and physicians from both St. Tam- many Health System and Ochsner Health. Con- struction on the 18,000-square-foot clinic, located near the intersection of U.S. 190 and Louisiana 25, is underway with completion expected in early 2024. Along with the program director, a team of six core faculty members will practice alongside and train residents in the family medicine clinic, which will offer onsite X-ray, lab draws and physical ther- apy. The core faculty and a full complement of specialist faculty are excited to welcome the first class of residents in July 2024. To learn more about the St. Tammany Health System/Ochsner Family Medicine Residency Pro- gram visit www.sttammany.health/medresidency. Terrebonne General Health SystemNames Catina Burton as Director of Supply Chain TerrTerrebonne General Health System has named Catina Burton as the new director of sup- ply chain. Burton has worked in the healthcare industry for 20 years, serving six of those in mul- tiple roles at Terrebonne General, including the accounting, finance, and purchasing departments. Burton will oversee all supply and distribu- tion matters, such as organizing and carrying out supply chain initiatives. She brings a strong