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Council Presses New Orleans Water Board Over Unfunded Plan to Stabilize Water Mains

Funding questions now dominate the response to repeated main breaks.

Overview

  • The Sewerage and Water Board’s six-step Immediate Action Report identifies eight urgent repairs and seeks $3 million to complete them, plus $27 million to begin assessing high‑risk transmission lines.
  • Council members criticized the utility’s urgency and communication in a lengthy hearing and demanded concrete timelines and a strategy to secure state and federal dollars.
  • Low water pressure continues in parts of the city with full service targeted by April 3, and crews addressed a new Uptown leak reported Wednesday on Jeanette Street.
  • Mayor Helena Moreno called the plan a start and is exploring up to about $200 million in bonds backed by tourism tax revenue as well as a potential parcel fee for infrastructure.
  • Near‑term work could cost hundreds of millions and long‑term needs reach into the billions; the last systemwide condition assessment was in 2003 and a new one requires $3 million the utility lacks.