The Stormwater Report

When Hurricane Katrina tore across Louisiana in 2005, decimating wide swaths of New Orleans, the region’s vulnerability to flooding from severe storms became a cautionary tale for municipalities around the world. In the years since, local, state, and federal governments have spent more than $20 billion surrounding the city with updated flood control measures, explored […]

Located along the shore of Lake Pontchartrain, New Orleans’ low-lying Gentilly neighborhood has been a hotbed of flood-control innovation in recent years. As the city’s first “resilience district,” municipal government organizations are collaborating to invest more than $140 million into Gentilly to demonstrate groundbreaking pilot projects that address the area’s chronically stressed drainage systems and […]

Last summer, heavy rains fell on New Orleans and caused widespread street flooding. These floods prompted Mayor Mitch Landrieu to launch a $26 million plan to, among other resilience measures, assess and rehabilitate thousands of the city’s street-side catch basins. In the months that followed, work crews unblocked more than 15,000 clogged catch basins, recovering […]

The Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) Students and Young Professionals Committee (SYPC) is hard at work finalizing plans and logistics for the ninth annual WEF Community Service Project, “NOLA Grows Green: The City Hall Stormwater Project.” More than 200 volunteers are expected to participate in this year’s event, which is being held during WEFTEC® […]