Key power source to New Orleans' drainage system offline until late September, S&WB says

A key power source to New Orleans' drainage system that got knocked out of service last month just as Louisiana entered the height of hurricane season is expected to remain offline until late September, the Sewerage and Water Board said Thursday.

The water board still has enough backup power to run the city's drainage system without the decades-old turbine, known as T5, but those sources are also error-prone and any additional outages could compromise the pumps.

Repairs to T5, which was taken out of service due to a faulty temperature sensor, were initially anticipated to take two weeks, the S&WB said in an Aug. 20 press release .

The S&WB revised that projection in a subsequent press release on Sept. 2 , saying that it expected T5 to remain out of service until late September. It