DIMANCHE

We’re used to day-long berls in New Orleans, and this one will be no different. Monday's boil water advisory for the East Bank of New Orleans will last until at least Tuesday afternoon, said Sewerage and Water Board Executive Director Marcia St. Martin. Samples of water were sent to the lab this afternoon, and have an incubation period of about 24 hours. Until the samples are reviewed and deemed free of bacteria, the advisory cannot be lifted, St. Martin said. She stressed that the advisory is “very precautionary.”

Power went out at the Board's main 25-cycle plant at about 8:30 a.m., as workers were performing preventive maintenance on some of the plant's boilers. At the time, the water pressure did not drop to levels that automatically trigger a boil water advisory. During the three-minute outage, water continued to flow through the system, St. Martin said. 

“Our professional opinion is that the water’s fine,” St. Martin said.

Over the course of the morning, officials consulted with the state Department of Health and Hospitals, and reached the conclusion to implement the advisory, St. Martin said.

The advisory was not issued until five hours after the outage, leading East Bank residents to wonder if their showers or lunchtime glasses of water were possibly tainted with bacteria. However, St. Martin said she would not characterize it as a slow response.

“I’m not going to say it was a delay,” St. Martin said. “It was just part of the process.”

The boil water alert would’ve gone out sooner if the pressure was lower, St. Martin said.

If (the pressure) was below 15 psi” - which is the trigger for boil water advisories - “our consultation with DHH, it would’ve been a different kind of conversation,” she said.

The main plant, which last left the city boiling in November 2010, has been experiencing power issues since the Federal Flood. The City is counting on a $140 million grant to help stabilize the power to the plant, and make other needed repairs. St. Martin said the grant money should be awarded within 30 days. FEMA authorized another $12.5 million for steam pump repairs. Work on those will be completed by 2014.