WALKER - On Tuesday, the Livingston Parish Government hosted its first open house meeting for residents to give input on the drainage master plan and voice their concerns.

"When we have some bad rains, we're sitting here waiting to see if we are going to flood or not," Livingston Parish resident Curt Bowman said.

Bowman has been living in his home along Maxwell Drive for over 40 years. He says that within the last 30 years, drainage has become an issue.

"It's a lot of talk, hype, just like I've been here for all this time and nothing ever gets done," he said.

Bowman believes a canal and creek in the area are one of the reasons for the issues in his subdivision.

"But, until someone walks this and looks at it, and sees what it looks like compared to what it was before. You know, it's crazy, why would anyone put a canal dead end to a creek that fills up, you know, 90 degrees instead of at an angle so it can at least suck the water out," Bowman said.

Capital Projects Manager with the Livingston Parish Government, Stephen Avara, says the drainage master plan was brought forth by parish president Randy Delatte.

"This is not one area focused, two area focused, this is an entire parish," he said.

It's part of an effort to assess current drainage systems across the parish and identify areas where flooding occurs, in hopes of reducing the risk of flooding for residents.

"We've met with key stakeholders, we've met with local engineering firms, and all of our gravity drainage districts throughout the parish. Our mayors, things like that to collect all this data, but what we really need is community input," Avara said.

Livingston Parish has a history of floods, with the most recent major flood in 2016.

Avara says once the plans are complete, it will open the door for several projects and the possibility of federal funding.

"By having a plan, having hey this is where our water is, these is where our problems are, this is the data to back that, give us the money, and we are fighting for that," he said.

The Drainage Master Plan is expected to be completed by 2027.

There will be two more public meetings held for the drainage master plan this week. Wednesday at the Livingston Parish Council Chambers and Thursday at the Carter Plantation in Springfield.