FERRIDAY — Ferriday officials will break ground today on a project meant to address nearly 25 years worth of water woes.

At 10 a.m., town officials will gather with other area elected officials and U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu for a groundbreaking ceremony for the Ferriday Water Treatment Plant.

The ceremony will be at 400 Kennedy Drive near Ridgecrest.

Though the official groundbreaking won’t be until this morning, construction for the $6.6 million project — which includes replacing the city’s water supply from Old River to groundwater wells and making upgrades to the town water treatment facility — has already begun.

Using Old River as a source has caused Ferriday’s water system to produce tinted and odorous water because of manganese levels in Old River in the past, and from May 2009 to April 2010, the town was under a 344-day boil-water notice while emergency improvements were made to its water treatment facility.

A similar boil-water notice lasted 124 days in 1999. Following the 1999 boil-water period, a class action suit was filed against the town and firm that built the plant — Owen and White — that ended with a settlement that paid out $325 to class members.

In 2011, a filter blowout at the plant resulted in a boil-water notice that lasted several weeks.

Ferriday Alderman Steppers Banks said the town will still have to live with the old system for a little while longer as the new project is being constructed.

“As soon as we get behind the project, then the people will be a lot more happy and relaxed,” Banks said. “They now feel that the dollars they are spending are just a waste of money, that they are paying for something they can’t use. They are still buying their own drinking water — I’m still buying mine.”

But today marks a positive step in the right direction, he said.

“Once that water is clean, then we will have opportunities,” Banks said.

Ferriday Mayor Gene Allen said  with the water issues finally behind it, the town will be able to attract new businesses and industry.

“When I was campaigning, I promised I would get clean water, that if that was the only project I got for Ferriday, it would be that,” Allen said.

The project is being funded by a $5 million grant and a $1.6 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The town will have 40 years to repay the loan, Allen said, and the payments will be structure out of the water system’s revenues.

In addition to the new plant, the town will be installing new water meters, which will accurately read water usage and help with proper billing.

“We are working on the computer side of the new meters as we speak, and by July we should get to the mechanical side of actually installing the meters,” Allen said.

The mayor said at the groundbreaking he would be sure to thank congressional leaders for helping the town secure the grant, which was a key component of the funding.

Allen said he thinks the project will be completed by 2016.

In case of inclement weather, the groundbreaking ceremony will be at Haney’s Big House on First Street in Ferriday.