FERRIDAY, La. — Ferriday is on its way to having at least one more certified operator at its water plant, according to a state health official. The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has scheduled a special certification test Jan. 21 in Baton Rouge for operators of Ferriday’s water plant.

&uot;At least one, maybe two, of their operators will take the test,&uot;&160;said Michael Cazes, Alexandria, La.-based regional engineer for the department’s Office of Public Health.

&uot;State and federal laws only require water systems to have one certified operator, and one of Ferriday’s (four) operators is already certified,&uot;&160;he added.

But the Office of Public Health advises all of Louisiana’s water systems — especially surface water systems like Ferriday, which are more complicated to operate — to have at least one more certified operator.

That is in case the other person is ill or cannot be located during an emergency.

If the department had not scheduled a special test, Ferriday’s water plant operators would have had to wait until the next regularly scheduled test, which will be held in March.

And all of the plant’s operators will be working toward becoming certified in water treatment, Ferriday Mayor Odeal Montgomery said Tuesday during a Town Council meeting.

A boil-water notice was in effect for Ferriday from Aug. 20 — when the water plant kept shutting down, apparently due to lack of maintenance and operator error — until Dec. 22.

Crews had to complete dozens of repairs to get the Office of Public Health to lift the notice.

Those improvements ranged from working on filters and chemical pumps to making electrical improvements to installing a new operations computer.