A sign warns against dumping on Almonaster Avenue in New Orleans East near where the Sewage & Water Board intentionally dumped thousands of gallons of raw sewage. (Photo: Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)
Over several days in May, the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans approved the intentional disposal of thousands of gallons of raw sewage into the city’s stormwater drainage system, according to records from state regulators and the local utility.
Documents the Illuminator obtained from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality show the agency received an anonymous complaint May 16 from a citizen who reported that SWBNO workers were pumping untreated sewage into ditches on both sides of Almonaster Avenue, in a sparsely populated area on the city’s outskirts. The ditches are meant to carry stormwater runoff — not raw sewage…