Press Releases

The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO), in consultation with the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) issued a precautionary boil water advisory (BWA) starting Tuesday, August 6 around 7 p.m. for the East Bank of New Orleans and a limited portion of the West Bank.

The precautionary boil water advisory is still under effect. Members of our water purification team have begun collecting samples. Because of the size of the affected area, over 90 samples will have to be collected. Due to the volume of samples, this precautionary boil water advisory will likely last until Thursday afternoon. We will keep the public updated on when the samples have arrived back at our lab and testing has begun.

A map of the affected area is here.

The boundaries for the West Bank are: 

• Donner St. to Idaho St.
• Idaho St. from Donner St. to General de Gaulle Dr.
• Wall Blvd. from General de Gaulle Dr. to Pace Blvd.
• Pace Blvd. from Wall Blvd. to General Meyer Ave.
• Merrill St. from General Meyer Ave. to Patterson Dr.

Water pressures in these areas fell below 20 pounds per square inch (psi) due to power failure at the Carrollton Water Treatment plant. We understand from Entergy that the initial power outage was caused by a Mylar balloon connecting with a powerline near the Carrollton Water Treatment Plant. This created a brief power fluctuation, which caused our pumps to trip offline.

As the SWBNO Operations Team was responding to the power failure to get pumps back online, a member of our team sustained a serious injury. We are investigating this incident to understand how the injury happened and how it affected the response.

During this precautionary advisory, healthy adults should take the following precautions:

• Washing hands: Use soap and tap water, dry hands, then apply hand sanitizer; the safest option is to wash with bottled or boiled water.  
• Showering or bathing: Be careful not to swallow any water. Infants, young children, and disabled persons should be supervised to ensure water is not ingested. Residents with open wounds, chronic illness or weakened immune systems should use boiled or bottled water to bathe until the advisory is lifted.

SWBNO will notify residents when the precautionary boil water advisory is canceled. If you have any questions, please call 504-52-WATER (504-529-2837).