OpEdNews - Page 2 of Article: Floods: New Orleans Keeping an Eye on 17th Street Levee

The Corps subsequently sent an investigative team out to the site and determined that the flowing water from the three points was brackish, meaning the points have a salt-water component and were definitely coming from the drainage canal.

PAO Cephus provided a detailed diagram of the new levee construction, as well as the water reports.

Engineer H.J. Bosworth who works with the New Orleans watchdog group, levees.org indicated that the new construction is the “best possible” design after we showed him the diagram. Bosworth speculated that part of the problem might be in the fill material used to backfill the levee wall, but had no way to know for certain. Water will find a way through any porous material, especially if vegetation such as sticks or branches provides a channel, he said.

Bosworth's detailed comments are as follows:

The T-wall in the image you have is an excellent design for a flood protection element. The reinforced concrete "T" is supported by piles driven into soil beneath the surface and typically are used in the design of important structures here in south Louisiana. The design capacity of the piles is usually half of what they are tested to support - giving them a safety factor of 2! The codes for designing structures of reinforced concrete are the same as what most civil engineers use to design concrete elements of buildings and bridges. They are absolutely safer than levees with a theoretical safety factor of 1.3.

Lateral flow of ground water is typically stopped or at least kept to a minimum by the steel sheet pile 'cut-off' wall beneath the 'T-wall'

I am sure the folks that just had their communities flooded up river from us wish that their government had spent a few more dollars and had constructed a few miles of T-walls around them instead of the levees that failed to protect them. The technology is not new. Too often, the Corps opts for levees to save money rather than asking Congress for enough funding for reliable and stable concrete structures.

As for the ducks, they were gone (fate unknown), and Cephus took his own photos of the pooled water. He was uncertain whether the correct duck area had been tested originally. A water test did come back on Tuesday that indicated water pooled on the road where the ducks were was not brackish and could possibly have come from a leaking water main. We rechecked the duck area.

On a Lighter Note—Cheney responsible?

Cheney responsible?

On a lighter, note, and those living in New Orleans could certainly use some levity—we received a tip from The New Orleans Levee that Dick Cheney was behind the disappearing ducks and levee leak, but we have been unable to confirm that report.

The bottom line in this report from New Orleans is that residents will have to wait for the review panel for more answers.

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