Dear Valued Customers,
Yesterday, we met with the New Orleans City Council to collaborate on solutions regarding SWBNO’s fragile infrastructure in the face of future stormwater threats.
Our immediate plan is to repair Turbine 5 to have sufficient power within 10 days and work to repair Turbine 4. We also aim to determine whether funding could be available sooner to bring the Power Complex substation online earlier.
Last weekend, SWBNO prepared for a rain event for which we expected to have sufficient power to handle.
Leading up to the rain event, SWBNO’s power sources included:
- Turbine 4, which produces 25Hz power for our older pumps, originally built in 1915
- Turbine 5, which produces 25Hz power, originally built in 1958; Turbine 5 is currently out of service but is expected to be back online by December 15
- Turbine 6, which produces modern 60Hz power, built in 2012
- Five back-up generators, also known as EMDs, that produce 60Hz power; three of five EMDs are currently available
- Frequency changers that convert 60Hz power to 25Hz power
However, early Saturday morning, Turbine 4 lost power, leading to a significant decrease in our capacity to pump runoff from New Orleans’ streets. With less power, the streets drain slower, especially during intense rain events. On Saturday this took until just before noon.
Until then, our community will need to remain vigilant while our capacity to drain stormwater is diminished. SWBNO will also work closely with NOLAReady to inform residents of any potential impacts related to this weekend’s rainy forecast.
Although both have been refurbished in recent years, Turbines 4 and 5 are past the end of their expected life. This makes finding additional back-up power options extremely difficult. However, we are exploring potential options with our partners and the City Council to either identify stop gap measures to get us through the next year and a half until our new Power Complex is scheduled to be in operation or even expedite the construction process. While we are doing our best to maintain our older turbines, the status quo is no longer sustainable or acceptable.
Our Power Complex, which will include new turbines, as well as a direct tie-in to Entergy-generated power through a substation, will provide New Orleans a reliable and efficient power source. According to our current timeline, we will finish Phase One of the project, which will allow use of the Entergy Substation, in time for peak hurricane season 2025.
Until then, our primary focus is maintaining the older turbines to the best of our ability, using back-up power when needed, and enhancing our communication and coordination with emergency alert partners. We remain committed to improving communication and transparency and will continue to keep you, our valued customers, informed about our challenges and progress.
In the spirit of transparency and to empower our customers, we are in the final stages of developing a public dashboard that will show which pumping stations are on in real-time and will feature our available power more prominently. In the meantime, our pumping and power status is always readily available on our website, www.swbno.org.
Additionally, our new customer portal, which will come online in 2024 as part of our Smart Metering Program will have the capability to send messages to customers. Moving forward, SWBNO will closely collaborate with NOLAReady and our other partners to update rain event protocols and clearly define customer notification responsibilities and more conservative triggers for emergency communications.
Maintaining one of the world’s largest mechanical drainage systems in a city 50% below sea level requires constant investment to function properly. Not to mention, flood events are unfortunately becoming more common given the poor status of our infrastructure coupled with climate change. SWBNO is committed to continued collaboration with our City and State partners and stakeholders to comprehensively address our city's critical drainage and funding needs.
We appreciate your understanding and support as we work through these challenges. And we welcome feedback on operational improvements, knowing we currently have more than $205 million in unfunded critical drainage improvements. Our incremental progress coupled with a dedicated funding source are the solutions New Orleanians need to ensure events like Saturday’s do not remain a fixture of everyday life.
Our commitment is to ensure the well-being of all New Orleanians for generations to come.
Yours in Service,
Ghassan Korban