It has been 10 years since Ferriday residents went months without clean water.

And at least a few folks must be having flashbacks.

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals met with Ferriday Mayor Glen McGlothin Monday afternoon and told him his town’s water wasn’t safe to drink.

Chemically, it passes the tests done at Water Works. But physically, it’s in violation of safety codes.

The water is stored in a tank that no longer has a top.

The tank’s roof was first damaged in 2006, and by 2008 it had caved in.

So now the town’s water sits overflowing in a large open tank.

Water Works personnel make sure the tank overflows so that leaves, sticks, insects and whatever else finds its way inside floats to the top and rushes over the edges.

The water Ferriday residents drink comes from the bottom of the tank and is, presumably, a bit cleaner.

City officials say they aren’t scared to drink the water themselves, but that they want residents to take necessary precautions — boil it then mix in chlorine laundry bleach and iodine.

But the water in the tank has been exposed to the elements for three years. The town simply did nothing about it, said McGlothin, who took office in July.

Reportedly the Department of Health cautioned former Mayor Gene Allen that something needed to be done.

Maintenance on the water facility didn’t occur, McGlothin said, and things got worse.

Now the flashbacks begin.

It was Aug. 20, 1999, when a boil-water notice was put into effect. The notice wasn’t lifted until late December. And during those five months, the water was shut off totally when repair work was ongoing.

The problems then were due to lack of maintenance and operator error, officials said.

The National Guard set up tanks in Ferriday and distributed 400,000 gallons of water.

Schools had to alter routines — maintenance employees had to come to work early to haul water from Vidalia for students to drink.

Some residents left town to live with relatives in Vidalia and Natchez.

Five months in 1999 seemed like the 1800s. A civilized, developed town operated like a third-world country.

Everyone asked, “How could this happen?”

Ten years’ time doesn’t make the unbelievable any easier to accept.

How can we be facing such conditions in the United States?

McGlothin said he doesn’t like to point fingers but doesn’t know where else to look than to Allen, who apparently let the work done since 1999 crumble in four years.

McGlothin and city leaders have a plan in place to replace the tank, add a second one and make other repairs. The mayor says water is his first priority, and it should be.

This problem has got to be fixed now. Ferriday cannot let Monday be the beginning of yet another 124-day boil-water notice.

All of Ferriday’s elected leaders, community leaders and citizens have got to do their part to ensure major changes to the water plant.

Let’s not let the 10-year anniversary of a bad memory play out all over again.

Julie Cooper is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or julie.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.