NEW ORLEANS — “We have elected officials in Baton Rouge and other places that want to have the state take over the Sewerage and Water Board. They do. And we have fought collectively to try and prevent that from happening,” New Orleans City Councilman Joe Giarrusso told the leadership of the Sewerage and Water Board in a council meeting.
The City Council is putting pressure on the Sewerage and Water Board to comply with the law when it comes to fair billing and resolving inaccurate charges.
Leaders at the Sewerage and Water Board responded to tough questions today.
The council says it is spending $4 million to help move improvements forward, that are not being made fast enough.
The City Council took up two issues with the Sewerage and Water Board Thursday. The first one became contentious.
“I have a bill here from a customer who got a $142,000 bill. How that bill got out of the Sewerage and Water Board with its current technology, doesn't make sense to me,” said Councilman Giarrusso.
At issue are years-long frustrations.
The council says the Sewerage and Water Board is not following the law on billing cycle times, calculations on estimated billing, regular in-person meter readings with proof it was done, and investigations and hearings are not timely and automatic, like in this case.
“Here's what will turn your hair white, said Council Vice-President J.P. Morrell. "That was the head of the council regulatory office, who was disputing a bill, telling them what the law is, and the customer service was saying you don't get that. Think about how asinine that is,” Morrell said.
The council says it has given funds to help fix the problems. The Sewerage and Water Board says it will comply.
“Within the ordinance, the date of implementation on some of these, we need some reasonable amount of time to work out," said René Gonzalez, Chief Customer Service Officer for the Sewerage & Water Board.
"Whatever needs to be worked out, regarding the software and operations, but it doesn't mean that we don't support it at all,” Gonzalez said.
The second issue was how a Mylar balloon recently triggered a boil water advisory.
Entergy explained that the metal in Mylar conducts an arc of 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit when it hits an energized power line. That caused a surge. And while no power was lost to the S&WB, it, in essence, tripped their circuits, causing four pumps to shut down.
Because of the pressure provided by two water towers, they have around 40 minutes to go back online, before the pressure falls to a critical point. Normally, workers can get it back online in 15 to 20 minutes, but they were triaging a worker with a catastrophic injury to his face.
“All the employees were present who rallied to support and give comfort to one of their injured coworkers on Aug. 6., said Sewerage and Water Board Executive Director, Ghassan Korban.
"I will never, never second guess whatever they did that night, and I know they all feel terrible and responsible for the events that followed,” he said.
And the Sewerage and Water Board says in more than a year, the new power plant being built will solve problems like these.
Entergy says it will run an educational campaign to remind people to never release Mylar balloons. They should be popped and thrown away.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
