METAIRIE, La. — Jefferson Parish residents living on the east bank no longer have to boil their water after samples taken were cleared for drinking by the state health department.
The following is from Jefferson Parish
What should residents do?
Now that the boil water notice is lifted, residents should flush home plumbing systems by running cold water through all faucets. Residents should also flush out all appliances connected to the water line, such as refrigerators and dishwaters. Ice from ice makers should be dumped and replaced three times before use.
Why did this boil water advisory go into effect and take approximately 42 hours to lift?
This boil water advisory went into effect on Thursday, June 8, 2023 due to a total power outage from Entergy while one water tower was out of service for rehab, which added extra stress on the remaining tower to maintain pressure levels throughout the east bank of Jefferson Parish after the power outage.
Once the boil water advisory was issued, the Jefferson Parish Water Department collected 150 samples throughout the east bank of Jefferson Parish. The collection was complete by Friday, June 9, 2023 and all samples were sent to the Jefferson Parish Water Quality Lab. Samples must sit for 18-24 hours after collected before the Jefferson Parish Water Department can analyze to determine whether the water meets potable water standards. This Boil Water Advisory is now lifted because it has been determined that the water is safe to drink.
Residents were under a boil advisory after power outages caused the pressure in the system to go lower than the minimum for several minutes Thursday as a series of storms passed through the parish.
Councilman Scott Walker said that the outages affected both the main power to the water plant and the backup generator. In addition, one of two water towers were out of service, meaning that water flow from them wasn’t sufficient to keep the pressure up.
Businesses and residents were advised not to consume the water without first bringing it to a rolling boil for a couple of minutes. Armstrong Airport closed its water fountains to the public.
Another issue that came out of the water problem was the fact that several residents did not receive alerts about the boil advisory. Walker explained that occurred in part because the parish used the reverse 911 system and not Jefferson Parish alerts to send them out, thinking they would go to more of the people who needed to receive them, but that some unexpected gaps in the systems meant some residents did not get word.
He said that going forward, in a similar situation, both systems would be used.