JEFFERSON, La. — People on the East Bank of Jefferson Parish no longer have to boil water. It was done as a precaution when the pressure got below a certain point when that water main broke outside of the plant on Jefferson Highway.
"My staff tells me it was like an explosion went off," said Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng. "The asphalt road was broken. There was water spouting everywhere and the whole area was under water, so they had to try to dewater the area and try to isolate the break."
The parish is sitting on top of an aging water and sewer system. Sheng said the aging pipe from the 1940s was already slated to be replaced. Parish officials said crews fix 200 breaks a week and could not get to that one fast enough.
"It's the biggest break and it really had severe consequences for everybody on the east bank," said Sheng. "But because of our team, I think this break was fixed much quicker than we initially anticipated."
When the pressure came back up on Wednesday, parish officials began making sure the water had not become contaminated.
"We dispatched seven scientists into the distribution system," explained Jefferson Parish Chief Chemist, Kristen Rivero. "They collected over 80 samples at customers homes and businesses around the parish."
Those samples were put into Petri dishes and then in an incubator to see if gastrointestinal bacteria grew. Around 3 p.m. Thursday, the samples came back negative.
Breaks like this one are why in 2021 Jefferson Parish started plans to modernize the water and sewer system with $2.2 billion over the next 20 years on two new facilities on Jefferson Highway – pipes and a water lab.
This is why JP property owners are seeing increases in their utility bills.
"We do have 70 different projects under design now to replace pipes," said Sheng. "They explained to me we know where the worst areas are obviously we're going to do those first."
The pressure is now back to normal and the water tower is refilled.
And with no contamination in the water system, businesses can operate normally and so can everyone at home.