Boil-water order issued for New Orleans' east bank

[November 20, 2010]  NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The most widespread boil-water order since Hurricane Katrina has been issued for the entire east bank of New Orleans.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports the order was issued around 2 a.m. Saturday following a brief power failure at a water purification plant. That caused a massive drop in water pressure for much of the area.

A water superintendent calls the advisory precautionary and says water quality isn't affected by the outage.

Electricity had been restored around midnight to the east bank Orleans Parish Water Purification Plant. Officials were hoping the water pressure in underground pipes would be back to normal by dawn.

The boil-water order won't be lifted until the state Department of Health and Hospitals sees normal results in several consecutive water quality tests.

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Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.nola.com/

[Associated Press]

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