Covington adopts parish hazard mitigation plan; consultant praises wastewater improvements

The Covington City Council unanimously adopted the 2026 Saint Tammany Parish multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan and accepted a consultant's report that the city's wastewater treatment operations show measurable improvement.

Chris Brown presented the FEMA-required hazard-mitigation plan update and said the plan, updated every five years, is necessary for jurisdictions to remain eligible for FEMA mitigation grants. Brown noted the consulting work was funded through a GOCEP grant and highlighted that the steering committee included three residents and three city employees who participated in plan development.

In a separate presentation, David Curtis of Curtis Environmental reviewed the city's LPDES MWPP audit for the wastewater plant. Curtis said the city's overall audit score fell from 90 to 57.5 (a lower score indicates better performance), with strong marks on effluent quality and influent-flow handling. He credited investments in collection-system pumps, telemetry and generators for a roughly 30-point drop in the overflows-and-bypasses category. Curtis also described the plant's sludge-disposal process: a belt press and land application in Kiln, Mississippi.

Council members praised plant staff and the long-term investments that have reduced bypasses and improved compliance. The council adopted the resolutions confirming the jurisdictional hazard-mitigation plan and informing the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality of the plant actions.

Council asked administration to continue funding collection-system upgrades and operator training to sustain the improvement trajectory.