FERRIDAY — Sewage service was restored to Ferriday residents Wednesday night, but they remain under a boil water notice.

When Hurricane Gustav knocked out power to the town, water service was also put out of commission because the water plant did not have a backup generator to run its pump. Water service was restored when electricity was placed back in commission.

It is mandatory that citizens be put on a boil water notice once water service has been out of commission for a certain amount of time.

“This is just a cautionary measure,” Water Superintendent Gregory Griggs said. “They just have to test to see if bacteria have incubated, but I am sure everything is going to come back negative.”

Griggs took water samples Thursday morning, and drove the water back to the state lab in Shreveport so it could be tested.

He said he expected to hear back from the lab today, and that once the all-clear was given the notice would be lifted.

Until then, residents should only use water that has been boiled for cooking or drinking.

Following the storm, utilities officials discovered that two main power lines had been broken by the storm. The problem was that those two lines were located in the same area as the town’s sewage lift stations.

The stations were already inundated with water from the storm at the time they lost power, and so sewage started to backflow in some homes.

The town was not able to restore power to that area earlier because, unlike some municipalities, Ferriday does not have its own utilities, Mayor Glen McGlothin said.

Sewage service was restored Wednesday evening.