NEW ORLEANS — A decision to extend the New Orleans boil water advisory on the city’s east bank came after the sewerage and water board completed the first round of testing on nearly 100 water samples.
Two of them, one in the Hollygrove neighborhood and one in the Tulane/Gravier area were positive for total coliform.
In a statement, the utility said, “Total coliform itself is not usually harmful, but it can indicate that other, potentially harmful, bacteria may be present.”
Both samples tested negative for E. coli.
For now, the advisory will remain in effect on the east bank.
It was lifted for the west bank.
The boil advisory began Tuesday night after a metallic balloon caused a power outage at the Carrollton Water Plant. That caused water pressure to drop too low for too long.
A worker was seriously injured while trying to restart a pump that was knocked offline.
Two coworkers at the plant called 911 to report the incident.
“One of the guys that was working at the Claiborne pumping station, he fell and bust his head pretty good and he’s bleeding profusely, and we need help,” one worker told the 911 operator.
Another worker said he was calling for “An ambulance. One of the men fell.”
The utility’s Executive Director Ghassan Korban talked about the injured worker on Thursday’s WWL Louisiana Morning News.
“He’s doing fairly well, all things considered,” Korban said. “That’s all I can tell you today and our thoughts and prayers are with him, obviously. I visited him in the hospital yesterday. It’s a punch in the gut for all of us.”
Throughout the boil water advisory, Mayor Latoya Cantrell has not made any public statements or even commented on the public health emergency.
That’s in stark contrast to the mayor’s handling of the last citywide advisory six years ago.
During the November 2018 event, Cantrell, who also serves as the president of the sewerage and water board was front and center calling the shots and letting citizens know what happened.
“This morning is an opportunity to address the public giving the information as we know it so that we can keep everyone abreast and also understanding what is happening today and steps taken from this point forward,” Cantrell said at the time.
This time around, the city administration relied on the SWBNO to take the lead.
We asked City Councilman Joe Giarrusso about the mayor’s reluctance to communicate during this emergency.
“This is what the administration should be doing, and I think we need to communicate with people as soon as possible when something like this happens,” Giarrusso said. “What is the estimated time or repair, and it can change? Things are fluid and it changes. Then how we’re going to fix it.”
Testing is now underway for the second set of samples for the east bank.
The utility expects those results to be available Thursday evening.
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