BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — The Louisiana Department of Health has given letter grades to 951 water systems across the state. In the Greater Baton Rouge Area, scores range from F to A, with most districts getting high marks.

The new system is designed to make it easier for consumers to understand how system operations affect them — and potentially their health. It also creates a clear accountability system.

The Community Drinking Water Accountability Rule, or Act 98 of the 2021 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature, set the standard for the scores.

According to a news release from LDH, the scores look at seven factors:

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

Systems can also get bonus points.

“Clean, safe drinking water is a basic human need, and drinking water infrastructure is critical to ensuring that Louisianans have reliable access to safe drinking water. Over the past several years, more state and federal funding has become available to water systems that will allow them to make the improvements that will help raise their letter grade.

“We will continue working with water systems to identify the issues contributing to low letter grades and provide systems with a range of options to improve their operations, financial stability and customer satisfaction.”

Amanda Ames, chief engineer for the Louisiana Department of Health, who led the project implementation.

Across the state, systems earning an A or B were in the majority. According to the LDH release, the grade distribution was:

Water grade distribution

  • A: 386 systems, or 41%
  • B: 256 systems, or 27%
  • C: 171 systems, or 18%
  • D: 56 systems, or 6%
  • F: 82 systems, or 9%

How did local systems score?

Ascension

Assumption

East Baton Rouge

East Feliciana

Iberville

Livingston

Point Coupee

St. Helena

West Baton Rouge

West Feliciana

Click here to find a water system that wasn’t listed.