The Burst Force Main, which blew feet of water and sewage into the air over West Napoleon Avenue in Metairie this week, is slowly coming back into operation.
But it will be days for the eastbound lanes to reopen while workers test the integrity of the pipe and make sure the patch holds, said Jefferson Parish sewer director Mike Lockwood. Once officials are convinced it is safe, a lane could be reopened, he said.
“I don’t expect this to happen until early next week,” Lockwood said on Friday.
Overnight from Thursday to Friday, the crews were able to dig the pipe and install a temporary tape around the crack, said community spokeswoman Gretchen Hirt.
This pipe needs to come online slowly to make sure the patch holds. Community officials are also considering installing a valve nearby that can shut off the entire pipe if it fails again, Lockwood said.
The broken sewer pipe that has been spewing water and sewage on West Napoleon Avenue in Metairie since Wednesday may take days to fix, Jefferson …
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The pipe, a 66-inch sewer line that has already been patched and awaiting parts for permanent repair, burst Wednesday after rainwater entered the system and overwhelmed it. For most of the day on Wednesday, a mixture of mostly water and some sewage shot several feet into the air above the street.
The crews cut a hole in the canal bank and inserted pipes into it to divert the river into the nearby canal.
The pipe first failed a few weeks ago, Jefferson Parish public works director Mark Drewes said Thursday. A temporary repair was installed while the community waited for special parts for permanent repair. The temporary fix is what failed this week, he said. It will take a few weeks for the parts you ordered to arrive, he said.
As a precautionary measure, staff from the community’s environmental department will be taking water samples from nearby Elmwood and Suburban canals to measure oxygen and fecal coliforms, Hirt said.
The eastbound lanes of West Napoleon Avenue between Clearview Parkway and Transcontinental Drive are until further notice after a pipe …
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