NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans fragile system powering its drainage pumps will remain without a key player for an undetermined amount of time after the more-than-100-year-old Turbine 4 will remain out of commission for the time being.
The patched together system of out-of-date turbines that can't be easily repaired or updated, combined with a series of emergency generators that themselves have had problems remaining on, is relatively fragile, not a good thing with a hurricane season that has already set records for the earliest category-5 storm in recorded history and hot tub-like conditions in the Gulf of Mexico.
The future of the largely-below-sea-level city's ability to drain water out is largely dependent on a new pumping station that is expected to debut midway through next year's hurricane season and which has already run into cost overruns and funding problems.
Turbine 4 went out of commission during a heavy rain in February that filled city streets and its expected return date was a little over a week. However, an operator-error initially set that time frame back and recent testing to bring it back online showed more problems than had been forecast, setting the time frame back yet again.
“Much like an older car, there’s no computer diagnostic available for this machine. When one part is fixed, there’s always a possibility that when testing a new part, another issue is found,” S&WB spokesperson Grace Birch said in an email to NOLA.com.
NOLA.com also reported that the S&WB said that with the other turbines online and 4 out of 5 EMDS up and running, it has enough power to run the city's pumps at capacity.
Those turbines and backup generators though have had problems of their own.