FERRIDAY &045;&045; Mayor Gene Allen will meet this afternoon with the state’s Rural Development director on one of Ferriday’s most longstanding problems, he said during Tuesday’s Town Council meeting.

&uot;We’re going to meet at (Town Engineer) Bryant Hammett’s office to talk about water,&uot; Allen said, referring to the town’s water quality problem, which in 1999 included a 124-day boil water notice due to water plant malfunctions.

Although Allen gave no specifics, Michael Taylor, state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Office, said earlier this year that office was studying the possibility of Ferriday buying water from Concordia Waterworks District No. 1.

At that time, Taylor said other options might be to upgrade the existing plant to maintain water quality or for the town to drill its own water supply. But he added that USDA would have to determine the costs of those solutions.