Consequences of Pumping Out New Orleans 8

[SlideRuleEra]

There are several ongoing threads about New Orleans in various forums, but I have not seen this issue discussed:

The flood water in the city of New Orleans is reported to be an unhealthy, disgusting mix of waste, chemicals, and who knows what else. The Corps of Engineers is quoted as saying that the city can be dewatered by the end of 2005, using the installed Wood screw pumping system. These pumps discharge into Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne; both lakes eventually drain into the Gulf of Mexico.

I wonder if existing environmental pollution laws are going to be waived or ignored? Have always heard that "Dilution is not the solution".

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

 

[rmw]

The levees just breached again in NO. I guess we get to discuss this thread all over again.

I am sorry for the folks in NO who have more of this to endure.

rmw

 

[rmw]

Should I start a new thread to point out that we (engineers) were bilked again by bogus information reported in the MSM?

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005606.php

The date for the item I refer to is Oct. 13.

Unclesyd, looks like your eagle eye nailed it way early in this thread.

rmw

 

[HgTX]

Looking back at Unclesyd's post...
According to an acquaintance of mine who was out there a couple days after the break, the soup *was* thick enough to be gumbo.

Not that that says anything about the toxicity of the ingredients.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[jenn454]

It was reported this morning on local (New Orleans) news that the Greater New Orleans area is estimated to produce 21 million tons of debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This is 14 times greater than debris produced from the World Trade Center, and more waste than any US city produce in a year.

 

[bimr]

rmw makes an interesting point regarding poor reporting in the news media and then makes the same mistake himself.

Here is a critical paragraph left out:

"Caution should be exercised when extrapolating the results presented here to other flooded parishes and districts within New Orleans because of differences in land use in these and other areas. These data represent water quality conditions in these neighborhoods between 5 and 9 days after the inundation from the flood, but prior to significant pumping of the floodwater back into Lake Pontchartrain. Importantly, these areas represent locations where many first-responders and residents were exposed to floodwaters. Although some conclusions can be drawn about the quality of the floodwater based on this data set, more detailed human exposure, waste load allocation, and ecological risk assessment calculations for Lake Pontchartrain should be conducted prior to reaching ultimate conclusions regarding the environmental impacts of Hurricane Katrina."

For the full report:

http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/asap/html/es0518631.html

 

[rconner]

While I don't know anything of the specific pros and cons of this concept, I wonder if in some areas in the future (or present?), maybe it will be possible to save some money and precious pumping energy/resources, as well as some construction and maintenance of impermeable? "levees" (and some of the ensuing arguments such as in this thread?), by instead constructing buildings that float [see

http://www.realtor.org/rmodaily.nsf/pages/News2005102003

]!!!
[Maybe a sort of high-tech "Venice or "Waterworld"?]