A tug-assisted cargo ship crashed into devices that protect the equipment last month
After a tug-assisted cargo ship collided last month in the Mississippi River with devices that protect New Orleans' raw water intake equipment, Sewerage & Water Board officials plan to anchor a barge at the site to prevent further damage. And with the water board poised to ask the City Council to approve a slate of controversial rate increases that would double customers' sewer and water bills over the next five years, members Wednesday emphasized that they want the vessels' owners to pay the cost of placing the barge.
They also want the owners of the Liberian-licensed Asian Spirit and the tug Secretariat, owned by Triple Crown LLC of Reserve, to cover "100 percent" of the cost to repair the damage.
"Our position would be that all of the damages were caused by this incident so they would be responsible for all of the costs of making us whole," S&WB General Superintendent Joe Becker told board members Wednesday.
"All parties are working amicably to resolve the claim," S&WB spokesman Robert Jackson added.
The vessels' owners could not be reached.
The water intake facility, at a sharp bend in the river near the Jefferson Parish line, sucks up the bulk of roughly 140 million gallons that the agency's east bank purification plant treats daily.
The S&WB's ability to collect river water has not been compromised since the vessels collided Feb. 8 with two of a dozen thick steel poles called "dolphins" that sit inside the river and are designed to protect the intake station from marine traffic and debris, Becker said.
Lights on the protective structures were working at the time but the "ship lost control a little bit as it was taking that corner," Becker said.
Though basic in their design, dolphins are critical to protecting the S&WB's underwater infrastructure. During Hurricane Gustav in 2008, the poles kept a vessel from slamming into a drainage pump station along the Industrial Canal.
"The dolphin performed exactly as it was supposed to perform," Becker said of the Feb. 8 incident. The devices are "intended to be sacrificial in nature."
One dolphin at the Old River Station must be replaced and a second repaired, he said, adding that until that happens, a barge would adequately protect water equipment.
S&WB administrators last month used emergency authority to hire U.S. Forensic of Metairie to catalog the damages, Becker said. The firm will be paid $160 per hour, plus $7,000 to $8,000 for a dive team to inspect damage, Jackson said.
The contract will expire upon completion of its report, and U.S. Forensic will be retained "as an expert in the event of any litigation," Jackson said, adding that there's no cap on the contract.
The S&WB plans to solicit bids for the repair job, Becker said.
Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Bill Colclough said his agency has "no verified cause" for the incident, which "did not meet the threshold for investigation."
No pollution was reported as a result of the crash, he said.