FERRIDAY — Another step toward getting Ferriday’s nine-month-long boil water notice lifted was completed Wednesday.

The concrete slab the new water storage tank will rest on at the town water plant was poured Wednesday, a step that had been long-delayed by rain days and too-soggy ground.

“I knew they were waiting for good weather to pour it,” Mayor Glen McGlothin said. “I went to Baton Rouge and when I got back today, they had poured it and it was done.”

The slab will have to age for seven days before the tank can be assembled on it. The tank was pre-fabricated offsite and is currently at the plant.

McGlothin said that — given ideal weather — he has been told that it would take two weeks for the tank to be assembled.

“At this point, I am afraid to give a timeline because we don’t know what the weather will be like, but I am hoping and praying it won’t take long,” he said.

After that, the tank will have to be tested, making sure the welds are strong and that it doesn’t have any pressure problems, McGlothin said.

“The Department of Health and Hospitals will have to come in and fill it with water, make sure the chlorinator is working, things like that,” he said.

“This is all standard — any time you put in new water lines, you have to chlorinate it and let it sit, and make sure you don’t have any leaks, make sure it is working properly.”

The town was placed under the boil-water order by the DHH because the water storage tank currently in use has had a large hole in it, which started forming in 2006 and expanded following Hurricane Gustav.

The town has made numerous other repairs to the water plant while waiting for the new tank to be installed, but McGlothin said plans are ultimately to build a new plant with a new water source.

Ferriday’s water is currently drawn from Old River.