Sewerage & Water Board Of New Orleans Community & Intergovernmental Relations Department 625 St. Joseph Street, Room B-47 New Orleans, Louisiana 70165 504-585-2175
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 7, 2001
Inspections in Eighth and Ninth Ward Areas to Mark the Start Of the Sixth Phase of Sewer System Evaluation and Survey

The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans has begun dye tests, flow monitoring, manhole surveys and video taping of the sewerage system in the Eighth and Ninth Ward areas.

The project marks the sixth part of a major analysis of inflow and infiltration (I& I) which is being conducted by contractors for the S&WB.

During the next several months, crews will be performing the tests in an area bounded by Florida Avenue, the Mississippi River, Elysian Fields Avenue and the Orleans/St. Bernard Parish line.

Residents, business owners and property managers will be notified via door hangers when smoke testing is scheduled for their particular neighborhoods.

The testing in the Eighth and Ninth Ward area will be performed on behalf of the Sewerage and Water Board by Roy F. Weston Co., a consulting engineering firm.

The entire sewage collection system, throughout the city, will be inspected and repaired during the next several years as part of the Board's Sewer System Evaluation and Survey.

The tests help locate breaks in sewer lines which could allow sewage to leak into the drainage system or stormwater to enter sewer lines, possibly overloading the sewerage system.

The City was divided into 10 districts for the purpose of the study and repair program. Construction has already begun in the Lakeview-Lakefront area and in the CBD/French Quarter/Warehouse District.

Testing has been completed in those two districts, as well as in Gentilly, Uptown and Mid-City.