VIDALIA — The newly-formed drainage committee in Concordia Parish had its first meeting Thursday to get acquainted and begin discussion on ways to keep parish streets dry.

Police Jury president Melvin Ferrington will chair the committee of eight members which consists of Lee Staggs of Vidalia, Wendell Walker of Monterey, Joe Parker of Clayton, Bill Beasley of Frogmore, Lewis Whiggington, Jay DePrato and Mitzi Bolyer, all of Ferriday.

Ferrington said the committee’s main plan for solving the drainage problems in the parish is to get away from draining the water into Cocodrie Bayou.

“We have been concentrating on Cocodrie for many years, and have not made any headway with it at all,” he said. “I don’t think we would ever get the funding or approval to get Cocodrie where it needs to be to pump all the water out.”

Ferrington said moving away from Cocodrie and toward other possible options like Tensas or Black rivers would help the parish deal with drainage.

Ferrington said before the levees were built, water in the parish flowed north toward Tensas, and that is one possible option the committee could pursue to fix the problem.

“There are different ways you can route the water. It didn’t use to stay around and cause problems,” he said. “There is a breaking point in Frogmore that would let the water go north toward the Tensas River that we have been looking at for several years.”

Ferrington said the new committee plans on doing whatever it takes to find a way to get the water flowing out of Cocodrie.

“We have some good people on the committee that are going to bring some good ideas,” he said. “I think all of us getting together and discussing this is going to help us find a way to fix the problem.”

Ferrington said the committee is qualified for the job and ready to solve this growing problem.

“The committee is well informed on drainage issues and they really care about finding a solution,” he said. “There has got to be another way for the water to go.”