Only 1 S&WB employee was on duty as pumping, power systems failed(New Orleans)

quote:

---

“operator error”

---

quote:

---

same operator was already dealing with a tripped power breaker in a different building when that happened.

---

quote:

---

Only 1 S&WB employee was on duty

---

quote:

---

An Entergy pole that delivers power to the Sewerage & Water Board's Carrollton Avenue water plant was compromised early Saturday morning, they said.

But an Entergy feeder at the Panola Station was also out of service, two events that caused a loss of power to a pump at the agency's Panola Station.

The S&WB's new Carrollton Water Tower kicked in shortly afterward and began doing its job to stabilize the resulting drop in city water pressure. But a main breaker that delivers power at the agency's Claiborne Station then tripped, which caused the S&WB to lose two pumps, they said.

The agency's employees trying to bring a Claiborne Station pump back online, but failed to do so before the water tower's capacity was depleted.

Still, S&WB Director Ghassan Korban stressed that the new tower "did its job" to stablize the system; he said he is still figuring out why his employees were unable to bring that pump back online.

---

quote:

---

At 4:17 a.m., Carrollton Water Plant pump B (steam pump), Panola Station pump #2 (60 Hz), Claiborne Station pump #4 (25 Hz) and Claiborne Station pump #2 (60 Hz) were operating normally. Additionally, Claiborne Station pump #3 was operating on standby.
At 4:18 a.m., an Entergy pole was compromised near the Carrolton Water Plant in the 8700 block of S. Claiborne Avenue which caused a loss of power to Panola Station pump #2 due to an Entergy Feeder being out of service. Following this loss of power, the Carrollton Water Tower began stabilizing the system.
At 4:24 a.m., Claiborne Station pump #3 (60 Hz) was brought on line. Shortly thereafter, SWB officials contacted Entergy to understand the status of the situation and length of time for power to be restored.
At 6:19 a.m., the 60 cycle main breaker at the Claiborne Station tripped causing SWB to lose two pumps. Following this loss of power, the Carrollton Water Tower stabilized the system for about 20 minutes.
At approximately 6:42 a.m., the water tower was depleted before an additional pump was brought on line causing a drop in system pressure at various locations across the East Bank of New Orleans. The lowest system pressure reported was 7 psi. Prior to depletion, SWBNO officials attempted to bring Claiborne Station pump #1. However, due to operator error, the pump was unable to come on line.
Approximately 2-3 minutes after the system pressure dropped below 20 psi, Claiborne Station pump #1 was brought on line and the main breaker was corrected bringing Claiborne pumps #2 & #3 on line.
At 6:50 a.m., this system restored pressure above 20 psi.

---