Two water-distribution pumps lost power early Sunday evening, leading to a drop in water pressure, according to the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans. It was the fifth time since March that commercial power service to S&WB's South Claiborne Avenue water-purification plant failed. The pumps went out around 5:10 p.m., but normal water pressure was restored by 5:35...
Two water-distribution pumps lost power early Sunday evening, leading to a drop in water pressure, according to the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans. It was the fifth time since March that commercial power service to S&WB's South Claiborne Avenue water-purification plant failed.
The pumps went out around 5:10 p.m., but normal water pressure was restored by 5:35 p.m., S&WB spokesman Robert Jackson said.
Water pressure on the east bank of New Orleans dropped from a normal 62 pounds per square inch to 22 pounds per square inch during the outage, he said. State health regulations call for a boil-water advisory when pressure drops to 15 pounds per square inch.
Both pumps at the water-purification plant use electricity from Entergy, Jackson said. Two pumps powered by electricity that is generated internally continued to operate during the outage, he said.
S&WB has eight water-distribution pumps, but usually needs only four operating at a time.
Sunday's incident was the fifth time this year time that Entergy power service to the plant failed and caused a temporary drop in pressure. There were similar failures on June 9, March 29 and twice on May 13.
In November, a brief failure of the water board's own in-house power led to a 41-hour boil-water advisory.
Sunday's power outages were not limited to the water plant, however. Entergy recorded outages for as many as 2,200 people in Mid-City within the same time period of the pump outages, company spokesman Philip Allison said.
The center of the outages was around where Airline Highway meets the Pontchartrain Expressway. The outages stretched out into the area of Gert Town west of the Expressway, as far east as Canal Street and south toward South Carrollton Avenue. Just before 8 p.m., 600 customers were still waiting for power to be restored, Allison said.
Entergy has yet to determine a cause of the outage.
"Unfortunately we don't know the cause, but right now the priority is getting the lights back on," Allison said.
Algiers is served by a separate West Bank water plant and has not been affected by the problems at the South Claiborne purification plant
This story is based on reporting by staff writers Michelle Krupa and Stephen Babcock.