A boil water advisory is in place for the East Bank of New Orleans and Algiers Point after a foil balloon hit a power line and briefly caused an outage at a water treatment plant.
Entergy New Orleans said a mylar balloon struck a power line near the Carrollton Water Treatment Plant around 7 p.m. Tuesday. A company spokesperson told NBC affiliate WDSU of New Orleans that it triggered a “very brief power fluctuation— causing pumps to be tripped offline.”
Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans crews switched over to backup power and got additional pumps online, “but not before the water pressure fell below the threshold for issuing a precautionary boil water advisory,” the spokesperson said.
SWBNO confirmed that the boil water advisory was precautionary.
“Water pressures in this area fell below 20 pounds per square inch (psi) due to a power failure at the Carrollton Water Treatment Plant,” a statement on Facebook read. “We are working to restore power and water pressure on the East Bank.”
The advisory was still in effect as of Wednesday morning.
SWBNO said that members of its water purification team started collecting samples but due to the size of the affected area, over 90 samples will have to be collected.
The board cautioned that because of the number of samples needed, the advisory could last until Thursday afternoon.
“We will keep the public updated on when the samples have arrived back at our lab and testing has begun,” the board said in a Wednesday update.
During the advisory, residents are urged to wash their hands with soap and water and then use hand sanitizer after drying them. Officials said to avoid swallowing water while showering or bathing and people with compromised immune systems or open wounds should instead use boiled or bottled water.
Mylar balloons are metallic balloons often coated with foil and are commonly used during celebrations. But these popular party items have been known to wreak havoc on electric grids.
Public Service Electric & Gas, New Jersey’s largest provider of electric and natural gas service, said last year that the average number of mylar balloons becoming tangled with power lines nearly doubles in June when people are celebrating the summer holidays and birthdays.
It has become such an issue in California that the state plans to begin phasing out the sale of the balloons by 2028. By 2031, they will be illegal, KTLA reported.
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