People using water on the Eastbank of New Orleans still have to boil until further notice if they plan on drinking it, but officials say it should be safe to bathe in and clean with for most people.  

Meanwhile, at the Sewerage and Water Board, officials say work will begin soon to make permanent repairs at the main treatment plant's power system to try and keep this from happening again.

If this had happened just one month ago -- during Super Bowl XLVII -- the bad publicity likely would have sent New Orleans reeling.  Sewerage and Water Board executive director Marcia St. Marten says the beginning phase of permanently repairing the power system that maintains safe pressure here at the plant begins later this month.

"We have a $6.6 million project which is the first phase of that project, which is going to be awarded on the third Wednesday of March," St. Marten said.

A fire in the water system's own power system on Sunday led to the drop in pressure backup power provided by Entergy could kick in, but St. Marten says that power system was reliable for a century before Hurricane Katrina, and it can be made reliable for the next hundred years.