The New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board adopted an emergency declaration Wednesday to fix a broken valve on a Gentilly sewerage line that had the agency briefly preparing to pump raw sewage into the Mississippi River earlier this month.

It was the latest in a string of mishaps deemed a danger to public health, including a turbine explosion Saturday at the agency's Carrollton power plant that injured three workers and an underground methane explosion Monday in the French Quarter that sent four manhole covers flying. No one was injured in that explosion, though the manhole covers damaged two parked cars in the 500 block of Dauphine Street, setting one on fire.

The emergency declaration, passed unanimously by the board, will allow the job to be bid out and repairs made more quickly, as the broken valve at Pump Station D is currently being held open by a hydraulic jack and wooden wedges.

Crews discovered the problem Dec. 2 and spent about six hours trying to get the valve open as sewage backed up into the system.

It was during this period that the agency considered the possibility of diverting sewage away from the valve and dumping it into the river in order to keep it from backing up into the streets, or worse, causing a blowout that would be a "significant risk to public health," the emergency declaration reads.

Ultimately, the agency did not need to take that step, Executive Director Ghassan Korban said.

“It was reacted to well and in a timely fashion, and it was well contained,” Korban said. “But it's a very serious issue and we’re taking it seriously, and that’s why the emergency declaration took place in order to expedite the solution.”

Pump Station D, just north of Almonaster and Florida avenues, is one of two east bank stations that collect sewage from Lakeview, the 7th Ward and Gentilly. From there it is sent through a 60-inch force main line to the East Bank Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The declaration cites another leak in that line, near the railroad tracks, though Korban said it was not caused by the stuck valve. He said it is included in the declaration because it is a nearby part of the same system and it makes sense to fix both problems at once.

"There’s no danger; it’s very well managed," Korban said of the leak. "Anything that is seeping out of the actual pipe is being contained and is being pumped back in the system."

Korban said having the valve propped open isn't ideal, but it keeps the sewage flowing until crews can get it fixed.

Bob Turner, the S&WB's general superintendent, said workers have already started putting scaffolding into place and will install a lifting mechanism in the next week or so to begin the work.

The declaration also says there are two other valves in Sewer Pump Station D that are at risk of catastrophic failure, as well as a constant duty pump that isn't working.

By approving the emergency measure, the S&WB is allowing all of this work to be done without formally advertising for bids, without a cost cap and without designating where the money will come from.

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There were no estimates provided on what the work could cost, though the declaration said the work would take "several weeks."

The prospect of releasing sewage into the river would be an apparent violation of a federal consent decree under which the city's sewer system has operated for two decades.

The S&WB was put under a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice in 1998 after it was accused of violating the Clean Water Act by dumping untreated sewage into Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River and other water bodies.

The decree requires the complete rehabilitation of the city's sewerage system, which entails an estimated $206 million in remaining work, by 2025.

The S&WB said the decree allows sewage to be discharged into the river in extreme circumstances.