The saltwater threat to drinking water systems in metro New Orleans may be delayed, but local officials and the Army Corps of Engineers still have work to do today.
"No plans are being canceled," said the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board's Ron Spooner.
Spooner said the plan to barge fresh water to the Algiers treatment plan remains on, and they are moving ahead with the pipeline plan for the east bank. So is Jefferson Parish.
"We're going to go ahead and lay out the full system for the first half of that run," said Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng.
Sheng said that way, they will be well ahead if the forecast changes.
The corps says elevated saltwater levels might not even happen for Jefferson Parish and New Orleans' east bank, but the river forecast does not go far enough into the future to say with certainty.
"Our job in emergency management is to prepare for the worst," said New Orleans Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness director Collin Arnold.
