Get the Lead Out
Sewerage & Water Board, Community Advocates, and National Partners embark on an Innovative Inventory and Public Engagement Program for New Orleans’s Lead Service Lines
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — New Orleans will be one of the first communities in the nation to deploy cutting edge machine learning technology to inventory the composition of water lines servicing each New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board (SWBNO) customer. Today local community groups, mapping experts, and elected officials held a kick-off event to announce development of an online, interactive map that will allow New Orleans residents to learn the known or likely composition of their home water pipes.
New Orleans, like most cities in the nation, lacks an updated comprehensive map of where lead water pipes are located. BlueConduit, a water analytics company, is providing technical support to Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans and together, are anchoring the map work in New Orleans.
BlueConduit is funded by Google.org. The community organizations – The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans, Total Community Action, Civic Studio – are leading a corresponding public engagement program, including education, access to map, and community input. This is a collaborative effort with support form national environmental organizations – WE ACT for Environmental Justice and NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), and BlueConduit, – as they provide funding support and help to connect us with other cities that have done this work, best practices, and technical expertise.
This map will ensure SWBNO’s compliance with the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule 2022 Revisions ahead of an October 2024 deadline and support the Biden Administration’s goals to eliminate lead from the Nation’s water supply.
“It is of the upmost importance that we protect our residents, particularly our children and other vulnerable populations, from the potential impacts of lead,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell, President of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans. “Mapping out our water lines is the first step in addressing these contaminants. My administration and our partners at the Sewerage and Water Board are committed to working with the Federal Government to leverage the funds necessary to improve our city’s drinking water infrastructure.”
“The basis for successful citywide programs always starts with collaboration and partnerships. The Water Collaborative is excited to not only participate in this groundbreaking program, but also lead this project with intentionality around intersectional design and development of water justice programs in New Orleans. We are excited to convene multiple community organizations and the Sewerage and Water Board to co-develop a program that creates intrinsic accountability and transparency procedures,” says Jessica Dandridge, Executive Director of the Water Collaborative. “With millions of dollars coming down from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for Lead Abatement, it’s imperative that we not only prioritize community input into the development of this program, but also embed equitable and justice centric mechanisms throughout the process. We have a unique opportunity to address both infrastructure and health inequities. Once complete, residents will have more autonomy in their decision making about their health in ways not seen before in New Orleans. In the end we will uplift the voices of residents, children, and families while simultaneously forever changing the health outcomes of residents for decades to come.”
“Although we have excelled at reliably providing clean drinking water to our customers, it is no secret that we and other utilities across the nation face challenges,” said Ghassan Korban, Executive Director of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans. “Under the leadership of President Biden, the infrastructure in our country is undergoing transformational change. Here in New Orleans, I am confident we will continue to provide our community with high-quality drinking water and I am proud to work alongside national and local partners to provide every resource available to our city.”
“Total Community Action, is committed to lifting up and advancing practices and policies that foster equitable and SAFE water access for all New Orleanians; and to that end, TCA is honored to be member of this diverse collaborative dedicated to ensuring a sustainable and affordable water access.” Said TCA President and CEO Thelma French, “We commit our resources and community connections to educating our children, youth and families about the harmful effects of lead, and empowering them to utilize all resources available to ensure equitable access to safe water. Water must be a common good!”
“Through this collaborative effort, we aim to support all New Orleanians in building our understanding of the role that drinking water infrastructure plays in our lives, including its impact on public health,” says Civic Studio. “We are excited to work with community members and local and national partners to develop a multimedia campaign and learning resources about this critical issue, while lifting up the voices of those most directly affected by the presence of lead in our drinking water system.”
New Orleans’ Water Service Line map will be informed by maps created for communities in Flint, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio. Those maps allow residents to find out the current pipe material at their homes, to find the available information about pipe inspections at their address, and to access resources for steps they can take to protect themselves and their families if their homes have lead water lines.
“The essential first step in ‘getting the lead out’ is to locate the lead, and in a city as old as New Orleans, that task is complicated,” said Eric Schwartz, BlueConduit Co-Founder and associate professor of marketing at Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. “BlueConduit is proud to provide the data science, analytics, and innovative technology behind this effort to prioritize New Orleans’ residents who are most vulnerable and at risk for lead exposure.”
New Orleans joins Buffalo, New York in this new multi-city public-private partnership to identify and replace lead water pipes, work made possible by a Google.org grant. This is a historic time for critical domestic infrastructure projects. The Biden Administration secured a landmark $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure package allocating $15 billion to remove lead pipes from communities nationwide, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set to distribute about $50 billion in infrastructure funding for clean water—the largest single U.S. investment in drinking water and wastewater systems.
Historically, like in many cities, lead water pipes were used to provide water service to and within homes in New Orleans. Lead plumbing began to fall out of favor in the 1940s but was not legally restricted until Congress banned the practice in 1986. Some older homes may have water connections or plumbing that are made of lead.
The EPA estimates at least 6 to 10 million lead service lines exist in the United States, most of which are believed to be located in low-income communities and communities of color. Lead is a toxic metal, and because lead can build up in the body over time, children are the most vulnerable to its harmful effects. These health effects include impairment of the development of their brain and nervous system, which can lead to permanent and profound health and behavioral issues. Studies show that Black children living below the poverty line are twice as likely to suffer from lead poisoning as poor white children.
SWBNO is committed to making sure residents of Orleans Parish are not exposed to lead in their water. While the water leaving the utility’s drinking water treatment plants is lead-free, we recognize that lead exists in some service lines in our systems as well as in interior plumbing in some homes, businesses, and schools.
If a SWBNO residential customer wishes to determine whether their drinking water contains lead, SWBNO will provide free lead testing for any New Orleans residence. You do not need to own your home or receive a SWBNO bill to get a free testing kit.
Here’s how to request a free testing kit:
- Contact SWBNO’s Lab at (504) 865-0420 or WaterInfo@swbno.org.
- A test kit with instructions will be mailed to your address. Kits are delivered by USPS, and return postage is A signature is not required for delivery.
- Results from lead testing may take approximately six to eight All results are provided by mail. If your results are above the EPA’s action level, you will also receive notification by phone or email.
Visit https://swbno.org/DrinkingWater/LeadAwareness to learn more about mitigating lead impacts.
For more information, please contact:
Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans
Grace Birch
Gbirch@swbno.org
https://swbno.org/
The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans
Holly Laviolette
holly@nolawater.org
https://www.nolawater.org/
Total Community Action
Thelma French
thelma.french@tca-nola.org
https://www.tca-nola.org/
Civic Studio
Aron Chang
aron.y.chang@gmail.com
http://www.civicstudio.coop/
WE ACT for Environmental
Justice Yuwa Vosper
yuwa@weact.org
http://www.weact.org/
National Resources Defense
Council Margie Kelly
mkelly@nrdc.org
http://www.nrdc.org/
BlueConduit
Dunrie Greiling
dunrie@blueconduit.com
https://blueconduit.com/
UPDATE: LIHEAP Now Accepting Applications
Effective Tuesday, August 2, 2022, Total Community Action, Inc.
Energy Services is open and accepting applications for LIHEAP
Crisis and/or Non-Crisis energy assistance and water programs.
The office address is 1410 S. Norman C. Francis Parkway and the
LIHEAP office hours are 8:00 am – 6:00 pm Monday –Thursday and
8:00 am -4:00 pm Fridays. Appointments through our IT front desk may
be scheduled for elderly and disabled only by calling 504-882-7181.
LIHEAP Crisis and/or Non-Crisis energy assistance UPDATE
Effective Friday, July 22, 2022, Total Community Action, Inc. Energy Services are unable to accept applications for LIHEAP Crisis and/or Non-Crisis energy assistance. As of today, July 21, 2022, TCA has exceeded its energy assistance funding capacity. All applications received through 4:00 p.m. Thursday, July 21, 2022 will be processed. Once applications are processed, clients will receive a notice in the mail detailing the eligible benefit received.
We encourage all clients in need, to contact Entergy and request a payment arrangement, to ensure no disruption in service.
We regret that we are unable to assist those still in need, but the demand has exceeded or fiscal capacity. When TCA receives additional funding, a public notice will be issued through all media outlets.
City of New Orleans and Total Community Action Awarded $474K to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Inequities in Justice System
NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans today announced the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Coordination (OCJC) and Total Community Action, Inc. (TCA) are the recipients of a $474K grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to deepen the push to eliminate racial and ethnic inequities in New Orleans’ local criminal legal system. This grant is a part of the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC), a $300 million national initiative to reduce over-incarceration and address racial and ethnic disparities in local criminal legal systems by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails.
The City of New Orleans was one of four jurisdictions selected to join the SJC’s Racial Equity Cohort and will work in partnership with local community organizations to focus on racial and ethnic equity in the criminal legal system. The City will use lived experiences of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) citizens and those impacted by the criminal legal system to authentically engage the community.
This funding will provide OCJC and TCA with training and technical assistance, peer-to-peer support from other cohort members and qualitative and quantitative data and analytic backing. As co-leads, OCJC and TCA will address national and local drivers of racial inequities.
As part of the Racial Equity Cohort, OCJC and TCA will create a citywide blueprint for advancing racial justice to reimagine criminal legal system reform — a strategy that will center data-driven analysis and community engagement. The planning and implementation process will engage a diverse group of community-based organizations and community leaders to gather direct input that will assist in implementing action strategies. The work will compliment and draw from racial equity efforts initiated in 2021 by OCJC’s Ethnic and Racial Disparity Working Group and contribute to existing efforts by community partners to advance racial justice.
The creation of the Racial Equity Cohort is part of the MacArthur Foundation’s commitment to centering racial equity and the voices of citizens most impacted by the criminal legal system. The new funding will support more intentional and effective strategies to eliminate institutional and systemic racism, utilizing a multi-faceted and multi-system approach to achieving racial equity and justice.
“This grant award is another important step to continuing to pursue our vision of centering racial justice and making strides to reduce racial inequities within our local criminal legal system. It takes all of us to hold our criminal legal system accountable to be fair and equitable and provide comprehensive justice for people at each point in the system,” said Criminal Justice Commissioner Tenisha Stevens. “The City of New Orleans is excited about this opportunity to partner with Total Community Action, a pillar in our community, to uplift and center the voices of people most impacted by the criminal legal to create solutions to systemically eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in the Orleans Parish criminal legal system, while advancing and justice and community safety for all of our citizens.”
“TCA welcomes this unique opportunity to collaborate with the City of New Orleans and the Safety and Justice Challenge to convene, connect, and mobilize our community in addressing the racial and ethnic disparities in our local criminal justice system,” said Thelma H. French, President & CEO of TCA.
“While the Safety and Justice Challenge has been successful in reducing local jail populations, it has also taught us that this alone will not eliminate racial disparities in the criminal justice system,” said Laurie Garduque, the MacArthur Foundation’s Director of Criminal Justice. “By pairing the leadership of people most impacted by mass incarceration with the expertise of government partners, we hope this cohort of jurisdictions will challenge systemic racism in our justice systems and create policies and practices to sustain long-term change.”
The four cities and counties selected to participate in the Racial Equity Cohort are Cook County (IL), New Orleans (LA), Philadelphia (PA) and Pima County (AZ). The participating community partners are Chicago Regional Organizing for Antiracism (Cook County), Total Community Action (New Orleans), Why Not Prosper (Philadelphia), the Center for Carceral Communities at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) and the YWCA of Southern Arizona (Pima County).
The Center for Court Innovation will be the coordinator for the full cohort of grantees and provide logistical, administrative and fiscal support. Several of the nation’s leading policy research and criminal justice organizations will also provide technical assistance and counsel to the SJC Racial Equality Cohort jurisdictions, including the Haywood Burns Institute, Nexus Community Partners, Everyday Democracy, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, Race Forward and the CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance. JustLeadershipUSA, Policy Research Associates and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association will also be participating as part of the initiatives racial equity cohort steering committee.
Head Start Center delayed Post-Holiday Reopening
New Orleans, La- Total Community Action, Incorporated (TCA) Head Start
Centers will delay reopening post-holiday break in response to COVID related
staffing challenges. It is anticipated that most Head Start centers will reopen
and resume early childhood education services on Wednesday, January 5,
2022, excluding TCA Head Start @ Mahalia Jackson School and TCA Child
Development Center @ VIET, these center will reopen on Monday, January 10,
2022 due to facility issues. Parents should monitor their center constant contact and
media notifications for updates.
All other TCA services (Rental Assistance, Food Pantry, Energy Assistance) will
resume operation @9:00a.m. on Monday, January 3, 2022. TCA requires all clients
to be masked and receive a temperature screening upon entry.
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