Mylar balloon puts most of New Orleans under boil water advisory
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Most of New Orleans is under a boil water advisory, likely through Thursday afternoon, city officials say, after a brief power outage at the water treatment plant.
Why it matters: The cause — a Mylar balloon — underscores the fragility of New Orleans' delicate infrastructure.
The latest: The boil water advisory first went out Tuesday night after the Mylar balloon hit power lines connected to "three major circuits" near the Carrollton Water Treatment Plant, an Entergy New Orleans spokesman says, causing a brief outage.
- The outage was just long enough to cause a water pressure drop below levels deemed necessary to prevent contaminants from entering the supply.
- And because the outage impacted water for the entire East Bank and Algiers Point, health officials need to test more than 90 samples to ensure it's still safe to consume, which just takes a lot of time.
- A Sewerage and Water Board employee was also injured in the course of the outage as he worked to get the pumps back online, according to SWBNO executive director Ghassan Korban, who spoke in a Wednesday press conference. That injury delayed work to restore water pressure.
The fine print: Typically, a boil water advisory lasts about 24 hours because of the sampling and testing requirement.
The intrigue: Mylar's shiny, metallic coating makes it a good electric conductor, so when it hits power lines, they can short-circuit, according to PSE&G.
- New Orleans is already familiar with that. City Council banned Mylar confetti cannons last year after one of them caused a Mardi Gras power outage.
Yes, but: Mylar balloons are a problem across the country.
- One utility company counted 582 balloon-related outages in 2023, which it said impacted about 800,000 customers nationwide.
What they're saying: Still, the outage is stirring up frustration with the state of the city's infrastructure.
- "The whole City is under a BWA because…a single balloon? C'mon," wrote Councilman Joe Giarrusso on X. "We need a better explanation from the utilities."
Threat level: People in the affected areas are advised to drink bottled water, or water that's been boiled for at least a full minute.
- It's also best to use boiled or bottled water for hand-washing, the Sewerage and Water Board says.
- But the water is fine for bathing, so long as you're careful not to accidentally consume any of it.
When the advisory ends, let water run for at least five minutes before using it to flush your taps.
- You should also dump any ice from your ice maker for at least three batches, SWBNO says.
What's next: The new SWBNO power substation could "hopefully eliminate" similar issues in the future, Korban said Wednesday.
- "It will be a reliable, dependable source" of power for drainage pumping, but the project lacks funding to connect that power source to pumps for potable drinking water, Korban said.
- "I don't see any alternative but to find funding to finish the project as designed," Korban said.