Boil Water Advisory issued
for all of East Bank
of Orleans Parish
MARCH 03, 2013NEW ORLEANS, LA-- A precautionary boil water advisory has been issued for all of the East Bank of Orleans Parish.
Sewerage & Water Board officials are still determining the cause of a loss of water pressure at the S&WB Power Plant.
S&WB is recommending that customers boil their water for one minute and let it cool down prior to consumption (including drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, bathing or preparing food).
Boil water for one full minute in a clean container. The one-minute boil time begins after the water has been brought to a rolling boil. (If there is a flat taste, it can be eliminated by shaking the water in a bottle or pouring it from one container to another.)
This boil water advisory will remain in effect until further notice for customers in the affected area. The Sewerage and Water Board will notify residents when the advisory is lifted.
>via: http://new.nola.gov/mayor/press-releases/2013/20130303-boil-water-advisoryiss...
__________________________
Water pressure falls across sections of New Orleans, city issues
boil-water alert
(Gallery by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com and the Times-Picayune)By The Times-Picayune
on March 03, 2013 at 9:33 AM, updated March 03, 2013 at 6:28 PMA small fire at the aging power plant run by the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board cut electricity to the city's water distribution system for about 20 minutes on Sunday, causing a potentially dangerous drop in water pressure for the second time in six months and prompting city officials to issue a 24-hour boil-water alert for the east bank's 300,000 residents.
During an afternoon press conference, Marcia St. Martin, the board's executive director, said that no one was hurt in the fire, which began in the plant's boiler room at around 9 a.m. But she said the outage caused pressure to drop below what the federal government considers safe, given the potential for bacteria to find its way into the system.
"It took a few minutes to determine the extent of the damage," she said, "But within about 15 minutes we were able to identify the possibility of needing a boil-water advisory."
By then, residents had already taken to Twitter, checking in with reports of a brief but marked drop in water pressure coming out of the tap from Uptown to St. Roch and elsewhere.
There were the inevitable quips about the city's "third-world" status. Shoppers loaded up on bottled water and ice at grocery stores. And businesses across the city began another frustrating interval of improvising their way around tap water.
At the Ruby Slipper, a popular brunch spot with three different locations around town, employees began using bottled water for coffee and boiled water for the dirty dishes.
"The one thing you should be able to depend on from the municipality is that you have water," said owner Eric Weishaupt. "It's silly, but we're doing what we can."
Sunday's water troubles ultimately stemmed from a power plant on South Claiborne Avenue that first came online in 1903, and which was badly damaged during Hurricane Katrina. The Sewerage & Water Board generates its own power, operating the plant and more than 100 miles of underground cables, because the overhead electrical grid used by the rest of the city can't be relied upon during heavy winds and storms.
Boil Water Advisory New Orleans has issued a boil-water alert for the east bank. Samples are being taken throughout the city and a report will be issued once it is certain the water is safe. Residents across the city woke up to a drop in water pressure. Marcia St. Martin, executive director of the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board, said that a small fire at the agency's power plant on South Claiborne Avenue cut electricity for about 20 minutes and caused water pressure to dip below what the federal government considers safe.The plant burns natural gas, generating steam and the pressure necessary to push water through the pipes. On Sunday, St. Martin said, that fire somehow got outside of the plant's boiler and did some damage, although just how much in dollars is not yet clear.
St. Martin said a team of workers was able to quickly switch to a different source of electricity and get pressure back up to safe levels fairly quickly.
She also noted that the decision to issue a boil-water alert was made within just a few minutes, an important point given the criticism city officials took last year for pausing more than four hours after a similar drop in pressure before warning residents.
City Hall put the alert out at about 9:45 a.m. on Sunday.
Back in October, the same power plant experienced a mechanical failure while crews were swapping out some of the boilers. Pressure briefly dropped from its normal 68 pounds per square inch to about 20 psi. But since pressure never reached the federal threshold of 15 psi, which would prompt a mandatory alert, city officials took time to consult with the state Department of Health and Hospitals, as protocol dictates. But because the city ultimately did warn residents to boil tap water, residents questioned why the alert took so long to reach them.
This time, St. Martin said, pressure did drop below 15 psi, so there was never a question of whether or not to put out a warning.
Once pressure drops that low, there is a danger that cracks in the pipes, where water is typically leaking out, could allow water from the ground to seep back in, introducing bacteria that could cause illness.
For now, the city is recommending that residents boil their water for a minute and let it cool down before drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, or preparing food.
Boiled water is not necessary for other household purposes, according to the city, although some important caveats apply: "Bathing or showering should be avoided by people with open wounds or who are immunocompromised," and for anyone who does hop in the bath, they should "minimize the time spent in the water and be sure to keep your eyes and mouth closed."
New Orleans Health Commissioner Karen DeSalvo said the city is collecting samples and will let residents know when the water supply is certified as safe.
In the long-term, city officials hope to eliminate these types of episodes with a considerable investment in sewage and water upgrades. Back in December the New Orleans City Council voted to impose a steep increase in residents' monthly water bills. The hike is expected to bring in $583 million in revenue to pay for infrastructure repairs and a bigger staff tending to the city's pipes. On top of that, the city is planning to use another $141 million in federal hazard mitigation money on upgrading the power plant.
St. Martin said the first phase of that job will be awarded to a contractor later this month, and when it's done, "all of that work will stabilize the power plant."
