ASCENSION PARISH - John Rosso lives near Bayou Manchac, which flows along Ascension, East Baton Rouge and Iberville Parishes.

"The life of being along the bayou is calming and refreshing, and we all need that," Rosso said.

But the bayou is filled with debris and floods constantly during heavy rain. Folks living near the waterway are tired of complaining about it to each other.

"If we are going to complain, let's do it with the right people in a constructive venue," Rosso said.

A meeting was held Monday morning with leaders of a dozen homeowners associations, all three parish presidents, and US Congressman Garret Graves to discuss how to fix this problem.

"The conditions being experienced within the Bayou Manchac watershed, I want to be very clear: they are unacceptable," Graves said.

Several projects were discussed, along with ways to pay for them, but the bayou still floods.

During the meeting, Ascension President Clint Cointment said to stop the flooding of Bayou Manchac: the waterway needs to be cleaned out on an annual basis, removing debris before it can cause problems.

"At this point, it's been decades since all of the bayou has been cleaned. We need a tremendous about of work to be done just to get back to zero." Cointment said.

"What we need is concrete plans and schedules of what needs to needs to be done," Rosso said.

The homeowner's associations now plan on forming a group of its members to concentrate on flooding issues on Bayou Manchac.