Dams More Important than Levees?

Apparently, before Hurricane Katrina, the federal government believed that dams were just that, more important than levees. Bob Marshall of the Times-Picayune exposed shocking differences in the level of standards for dams as opposed to levees. The National Dam Safety Act requires that dams be built to higher standards than levees and subjected to much more rigorous peer reviews and safety checks. "There is a National Dam Safety Act that sets out specific requirements to make sure dams won't have these problems, that they are safe for the people who live around them. There is no similar legislation for levees," said Larry Roth, deputy executive director of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Had the levees been held to the same standards by the Corps of Engineers as dams are, the catastrophic flooding of New Orleans would most likely have been significantly reduced, if not prevented altogether. This is one more piece of evidence that illustrates the mistakes made by the Army Corps of Engineers and, therefore, which solidifies the federal government's responsibility to fix this problem.

"We're hoping one of the good things that comes out of Katrina is that the country finally recognizes the fact that levees protect as much human life and property as dams," Roth concluded. I most certainly agree. The more one investigates the events leading to the failures during Hurricane Katrina, the more one realizes that there problems that were foreseen and should have been dealt with. As I have said before and will keep saying, Katrina was as much a man-made disaster as it was a natural one.

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Nagin Okays Rebuilding Plan

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin approved the rebuilding plan sponsored by the Bring New Orleans Back Commission, which he started after Hurricane Katrina. Nagin, facing reelection pressures, announced that hard-hit areas like the Lower Ninth Ward will not be turned into parks. However, while saying that residents in those areas had the option of, "rebuilding on [their] own," he advised them to be cautious. Nagin underscored the lack of adequate levee protection and how residents were still endangered. The plan was criticized by citizens from some lower income areas who charged that the city does not want them to come back.

The Mayor acknowledged the importance of the levee system to the recovery of the city. Without Category 5 levees, rebuilding might be for naught. That is why it so important for the levee system to be repaired and upgraded as soon as possible.

"Experts warn fixes to broken levees are falling short"

A very interesting article in the March 7 edition of The Washington Post by Joby Warrick discussed in depth the federal government's shortcomings in trying to repair the levees around New Orleans to pre-Katrina, Category 3 strength. The Army Corps of Engineers is allegedly using sub-standard materials and taking other shortcuts in an effort to complete levee repairs on time for next hurricane season. In addition, levees and floodwalls that were not breached by Katrina are not being repaired in spite of the fact that they were weakened by the storm. The accusations were made by engineers from a National Science Foundation-funded panel and a Louisiana team appointed to monitor the rebuilding. The Corps denies the charges.

The problems with this approach, if true, are manifold (and lab tests support the engineers). As the old saying goes, "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right." The shocking manner in which the repairs to the levees are being conducted is setting the city of New Orleans up for another catastrophic disaster. If these levees are not built right, there may not be a city to come back to. The federal government needs to stop nickel-and-diming New Orleans and needs to allocate the proper funding so that the project can proceed in the right direction. In addition, the state and city governments need to shape up and develop a clear plan on how to tackle some of the problems that caused the levees to be improperly maintained and money to be wasted.