Water woes persist in New Orleans after misplaced water heater causes power outage, pressure drop

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Utility companies have warned for years about the dangers of Mylar balloons, and that message resonated Thursday in New Orleans, as most of the city’s roughly 370,000 residents were under a boil-water advisory for a time after a stray balloon struck power lines near a treatment plant. The advisory was lifted entirely later Thursday after officials said water samples in the affected areas tested negative for contaminants.

Foil-covered balloons are shiny, pretty things when they leave your hand. Balloon releases are a popular way to celebrate big events. But they’re trash when they come down. And environmentalists have long complained about the dangers they pose to wildlife. And, as New Orleans was reminded this week, they can be a big problem for utilities.

What happened in New Orleans?

Entergy New Orleans, which supplies the city with electricity, said a floating Mylar balloon struck a power line near the water treatment plant Tuesday night. It caused only a momentary “snap” of power at the facility. But the director of the agency that manages the city’s water, sewer and street drainage systems said it was enough to knock out four critical pumps that keep water flowing.

An unspecified injury to one of the workers restarting the pumps caused a delay that allowed water pressure to drop. Low pressure can allow bacteria to enter leaks in the system, so a boil-water advisory was issued Tuesday night as a precaution. Officials lifted the advisory for a small area on the west bank of the Mississippi River Thursday. But early test results showed possible contamination on the east bank, where the advisory remained in effect for most of the city’s nearly 370,000 residents until officials announced the citywide advisory was being lifted Thursday night. Officials said no contaminants were detected in additional water testing.

Does this happen often?

It happens often enough that many utility companies have been taking note of it for years.

“They pose a very significant hazard to our system,” said Shelton Hudson, Entergy’s director of reliability. “Typically, that’s around the time people are celebrating graduations, birthdays and things like that.”

St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation, which provides electric services in Illinois and Missouri, said there were 582 balloon-related outages nationwide last year, affecting 800,000 customers. Public Service Electric & Gas, New Jersey’s largest utility, reported in 2020 that it had seen a 26% increase in outages caused by Mylar balloons over a five-year period.

Entergy and other utilities post safety tips on their websites, including keeping Mylar balloons indoors, tying them with weights or anchoring them to secure objects and deflating and throwing them away after the celebration is over.

Other concerns

Power lines aren’t the only concern. Environmentalists and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say balloon remains pose a danger to wildlife. Birds, turtles and other animals sometimes try to eat them, causing injury or death, according to the USFWS.

Remedies

Some communities have gone so far as to ban balloon releases. Galveston, Texas, for example, banned outdoor balloon releases in 2021, Texas media reported. But business interests have reacted negatively. The Balloon Council, an industry group, says on its website that it supports a California law passed in 1990 that regulates helium-filled Mylar balloons. But the group has criticized other laws in recent years as overly restrictive and detrimental to businesses.

Kevin McGill, Associated Press