ROSELAND — A year after an explosion at Smitty's Supply, an independent tester said toxic chemicals are still making their way into the Tangipahoa River.

Scott Smith has been testing local waterways on his own for the past year, collecting more than 300 samples across 75 different sites.

He was the first to find PFAS, cancer-causing forever chemicals, in the river, which he says likely came from the chemical washout at Smitty's. His latest results from June show those chemicals are still there.

"Well, it's not drinking water, but these levels exceed standards or recommendations by various state agencies, some EPA standards," said Scott Smith. "It exceeds that, and again it's not drinking water; however, the way people use the river and the fish and pets and the banks of the river and the sediment, it goes on and on and on."

When asked if he would personally swim in the river right now, Smith said no.

"The only thing that has changed is the fire is out, and the smoke's not in the air, but the fire might as well still be burning because all the contamination continues to discharge into the drainage network through the pond structure right to the Tangipahoa River," Smith said.

Smith said he continues to hear from residents experiencing health symptoms that toxicologists say are associated with exposure to some of these chemicals and the soot from the fire.

"From headaches, dizziness, people who never had asthma-like conditions now are on inhalers, people getting diagnosed with chemical pneumonia," Smith said.

His testing has reached as far as Lake Pontchartrain.

"We've got results right into Lake Pontchartrain from the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain all the way on the Jefferson Parish side," Smith said.

Before handing cleanup efforts back to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality last year, the EPA reported removing more than 11 million gallons of waste from the river. Booms were also put in place to try to contain the chemical washout.

Smith says his testing shows those booms have not worked.

"The LDEQ has got to know there's an issue with the discharging of the ongoing contamination into the Tangi River," Smith said. "You would think that they would dam it up and stop the flow into the Tangipahoa River. I do not understand why that hasn't been done."

LDEQ did not respond to emails requesting an update on cleanup efforts. The last public message from the agency came in November 2025, saying the river was back open.

Smith does have some good news to share, though it has nothing to do with the river. His independent testing of the area's drinking water has come back totally safe.

You can view some of Smith's most recent test results here.