NEW ORLEANS — Residents across Algiers Point have been posting on social media saying they've gotten a letter from the Sewerage and Water Board stating they've detected a leak. Some of those residents said they then got a letter from the department saying there was in fact no leak.
WWL Louisiana wanted to get some answers. According to the department, some of those initial leak alert letters were sent out by accident.
According to Sewerage and Water Board just over 45,000 smart meters have been installed, with residential smart meters set to be installed by 2026. The new meters are supposed to give a more accurate account of the water moving through your pipes. They're in fact designed to catch leaks if there is one.
10,000 residents not just in Algiers but citywide got letters saying their new meter detected a leak. Tess O'Neill was one of those residents, she said, "When I opened it up, it read it had detected a potential leak."
SWBNO says 8,000 of those letters were sent by mistake. Rebecca Johnsey with SWBNO said, "It was a manual error that happened, whenever you have someone manually doing a process there may be a mistake made, we were able to catch it quickly so we were able to respond."
O'Neill said, "It was Monday afternoon I was checking my email and there was a notification from Sewerage and Water Board saying something had been sent out in error."
SWBNO says they noticed the issue straightaway and worked to correct it, and all residents were notified of the mistake. The department says the manual notification process will be replaced by an automated process later this year.
The department says the temporary employee who made the mistake is still employed and has undergone a performance improvement plan.
