Hundreds of thousands of New Orleans residents were ordered to boil their water until Thursday afternoon after a Mylar balloon briefly knocked out power to the Sewerage and Water Authority’s Carrollton water plant and injured a worker trying to restart drinking water pumps.
Although the power outage lasted only a few minutes on Tuesday evening, the pumps that supply the city with drinking water remained off for nearly an hour after a S&WB employee suffered a “very, very serious injury” while trying to turn them back on, said S&WB CEO Ghassan Korban.
The no-boil water advisory – the first in more than five years to affect the entire East Bank and Algiers Point – immediately raised questions among local authorities about the vulnerability of the system that provides one of the city’s most basic services.
A Sewerage & Water Board water tower in New Orleans, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (Photo by Matthew Perschall, The Times-Picayune)
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Korban said the incident highlights the risks of relying on the city’s residential electrical grid to power the drinking water system. A plan by local officials to bolster that system suffered a major setback when a political dispute cost the city $29 million in state funds for a proposed new complex. The $300 million project, which involves a new substation owned by Entergy New Orleans, would connect to both the pumps that drain the city and those that supply drinking water. Because of the funding gap, Korban said, the substation can only power the sewage pumps, so the drinking water pumps will rely on the same energy sources used today.
“I see no alternative but to continue looking for means to complete the project,” Korban said.
The cascade of problems that led to the recommendation to stop boiling water – and caused residents, restaurants, schools and others to look for water sources other than the tap – began around 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
A balloon made of Mylar, a material that has frequently caused power outages in New Orleans and other cities in the past, struck a power line near the S&WB project on South Carrollton Avenue, causing a brief power surge that knocked out all of the pumps there.
An experienced S&WB pump operator began working to get the pumps running again, but after just a few minutes suffered an injury so severe that he “left lying on the ground,” said Korban, who did not provide further details about the injury.
Another employee found him and called 911 and summoned other S&WB employees and supervisors to the scene. Helping the injured worker delayed other workers turning on the necessary pumps, Korban said.
The S&WB has about 40 minutes to flip the switch and restore power to the pumps if they go offline before water pressure falls below the recommended boil water level. But because of the accident, it took 50 minutes for workers to restore power, Korban said.
The worker was still in the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, Korban said.
The last time a boil water advisory was in effect for the entire east bank of the city was in 2018.
Extended advice on boiling water
Officials said residents should continue to boil water until the utility can collect and test 100 samples, which is scheduled to happen Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, people in New Orleans took precautions. New Orleans Public Schools advised its charter schools to limit the use of water coolers, provide hand sanitizer for use after washing hands with soap and water, and limit water use in school meal preparation.
At Leah Chase School, the district’s only fully-run school, cafeteria staff prepared breakfast and lunch using boiled water and replaced fresh fruit with canned fruit. The school locked water coolers and provided at least two water bottles to each student.
Similar precautions have been taken in schools across the city.
Balloon problems
The incident not only raised questions about the vulnerability of the water system’s power supply, but also reignited concerns about the risks of Mylar balloons.
Mylar, a polyester film used for many party supplies, was responsible for several power outages in New Orleans and other cities.
If Mylar, which contains metal, touches a power line or floats into a power facility, it can cause an electrical surge. Entergy, as well as power companies across the country, including in California, New Jersey and Illinois, have warned their customers about increasing power outages caused by balloons made of the material.
A confetti cannon is fired as the Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc marches down Chartres Street in the French Quarter with its 10th annual procession to celebrate Epiphany and the birthday of Joan of Arc, the “Maid of Orleans” who liberated the French city from a British siege in 1429. Photographed Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
In 2021, a Mylar balloon that floated into a substation caused a massive power outage in Gentilly. In 2023, Mylar confetti fired from a cannon during a Mardi Gras parade contributed to a power outage in Uptown that left paradegoers in the dark, Entergy officials said.
In response, the city council banned the use of Mylar in confetti cannons. Council Vice President JP Morrell said in a post on X on Wednesday that in addition to the S&WB and Entergy issues, the council will also “address this issue of Mylar balloons.”
In a prepared statement Wednesday, Casey DeMoss, director of Resilience New Orleans, a nonprofit energy policy organization that has received donations from Entergy New Orleans, called on the New Orleans City Council to ban Mylar balloons.
California passed a ban in 2023 after the balloons caused power outages and wildfires. Several cities in California passed their own local laws before the statewide ban, DeMoss noted.
“New Orleans should do the same,” she said.
Staff writer Marie Fazio contributed to this report.
