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1/24/2025
WT Staff
Got water questions? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email us at info@wtla.us
January 24, 2025 updated 1222 pm CST
Half a million people under BWA following winter storm
Safe Drinking Water Advisories
Louisiana Dept of Health has released a list of 127 drinking water facilities with BWAs in effect. Hundreds of thousands of people are impacted, all water intended for consumption and oral hygiene should be boiled to sanitize potential contamination resulting from loss of pressure in the water lines. More to follow.
See the Louisiana Dept of Health list of BWAs related to the winter storm this week, here.
Jefferson Parish: BWAs have been issued widely through the southeast region 5 and 8 watersheds including Lafourche Parish Water District No. 1, impacting more than 81 thousand residents; all of St. Bernard Parish Waterworks customers, 44 thousand residents impacted. Also impacted with boil water orders, New Orleans East and Venetian Isles, parts of Grand Isle, and areas of St. John the Baptist Parish, all due to lowered water pressure and increased demand during the winter storm event.
Terrebonne Parish: Consolidated Waterworks District 1 issued a BWA yesterday for customers along North Bayou Black Dr and Bayou Black Dr. "Low pressure in our system due to low temperatures require a Boil Water Advisory be issued for Customers along North Bayou Black Dr and Bayou Black Dr from 5104 North Bayou Black Dr to 203 Deadwood Rd."
To find out if your connection is included in the BWA, click here.
St. Mary Parish: Patterson has issued a Boil Water Advisory Wednesday following a drop in water pressure. Patterson Water System serves 8456 residents plus businesses from a surface water source in watershed Region 5.
The new EPA quarterly compliance report is out, including the new Serious Violator list. Louisiana has 124 Serious Violator drinking water facilities out of total 1263 active facilities with SDWA permits as of the last audited quarter, ended Sep 30, 2024. WTLA.us summary report is in progress, more to follow. See the prior report here, how drinking water facility compliance in Louisiana compared with Ohio, New York, Georgia and California in the last quarter, here.
Tracking with the drought map for potential impact on drinking water supplies
Real-time streamflow readings are collected and averaged over seven consecutive days, then compared with historic 7-day averages for the same time period in prior years. When the 7-day average falls below the seasonal normal for a given monitoring site, the drought map shows the impacted watershed that is becoming depleted in measured water levels. The consistent tracking and reporting of the drought map makes sense for those concerned with drinking water supply and quality. Ratings begin at "below normal", and as time goes on and water monitors continue below normal, the drought rating escalates to moderate hydrologic drought, then on to severe and the most serious drought classification, extreme drought. Note the national drought tracking system has one additional category beyond extreme drought, an indicator for wildfire risk. For our purposes here, we track the drought map in order to identify those watersheds where municipal drinking water supplies may be subject to more than the usual challenges.
Extended periods of drought in a given watershed often precede water conservation measures. In some cases, consistent attention to the drought trends point to those areas where municipal drinking water systems fail due to low water levels, as seen in Whitehall, NY late last year. The same tracking rationale applies to flood conditions and hazardous spills. By observing extreme low flows, floods and spills by watershed, it is possible to identify where there may be increased stress on groundwater wells and surface water supplies. Keep coming back to the front page map, enable the watershed layer with directional arrows to visualize the water impact zone for drought, flood and spills.
Streamflow Situation from the network of monitoring stations of the US Geological Survey in Louisiana
Extreme drought has taken hold in the north central Region 3 watershed overnight. The drought area includes most of Claiborne, the west half of Union and all of Lincoln Parish have escalated from moderate drought as reported yesterday. Sabine River flooding continues in Calcasieu Parish, half a foot over minor flood stage. USGS Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center confirmed some erroneous data points at the Tickfaw River station at Holden, causing it to appear this was an extreme high flow site. In step with the rest of the water level trends in Region 7, Tickfaw River is running 2nd percentile at Liverpool this morning.
See the front page map for water levels updated daily, the black tag indicate the location of active flooding, red-brown tags indicate 1st percentile, extreme low flows.
New Orleans Emergency Management - NOLA Ready
NOLA Ready is your partner in emergency preparedness.
"Stay connected, make a plan, gather supplies".
Text NOLAREADY to 77295 for alerts.
See NOLA.gov for more, here.
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