Louisiana Delegation Studies Dutch Levees

[cal04]

The beleaguered engineers trying to shore up the city's flood protection say they learned a major lesson during a tour of Dutch levees and floodgates: It's unfair to compare projects here to those in the Netherlands, where the government has spent billions of dollars on flood control. ''If we get funded to the level (Dutch engineers) get funded and have the national backing they have, we're going to do some fantastic things,'' said Al Naomi, a senior project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers. ''There's nothing magical about what they do.''

Teams of engineers and politicians have visited the Netherlands in hopes of learning how the Dutch created flood defenses strong enough to withstand a storm as large as or larger than Hurricane Katrina, which overwhelmed New Orleans' flood-control system. With much of the Netherlands around 20 feet below sea level, water control has been a major priority there for centuries. The country recently completed a 50-year program to build dams, sea walls and surge barriers designed to protect the south of the country against almost any storm. The $15 billion program was spurred by a 1953 flood that killed 1,800 people. The Netherlands spends about $1.5 billion annually to maintain and improve the system that works constantly to keep the country dry.

Congress last year gave Louisiana a choice: If it wanted federal money for flood-control projects, it had to get
rid of its 19th-century levee control system with its patronage and cronyism and replace it with expertise and professionalism. State lawmakers overhauled the system, but it remains to be seen if it's enough to get Congress to agree to spend billions to prevent another Katrina-like catastrophe. Even if Congress approves the funding, some in Louisiana aren't sure the Corps should handle the job. ''With all due respect to the Corps, we want a lot of technical eyes looking at whatever the plans are,'' Gov. Kathleen Blanco said.

The Corps initially hypothesized that floodwaters overran the levees that breached. It took weeks after a state-sponsored team studying the failures offered evidence that the levees had broken without being overrun before the Corps corrected itself. Independent engineers found that the Corps made critical mistakes in assuming that Louisiana's loose, porous soil would be more stable than it was under heavy pressure from rising water. Ivor van Heerden, a civil engineer at Louisiana State University who leads the team studying the failures, said the Dutch equivalent of the Corps is more aggressive in warning the public about potential flooding. He and Blanco agree with Naomi, the Corps project manager, that money and political backing for flood control have been insufficient.





http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Katrina-Dutch-Levees.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Skidmore]

1. What freaking took them so long?

Why do we think that, as a nation, we are the only ones who know anything about anything? It's becoming less true everyday that we are leading the way in innovations in the world. * and crew gave the store away.

[Iris]

5. I know, I know

It was the thought that kept screaming out in my mind and a point I'd bring up when people said we should just abandon NO - it wasn't suitable for humans. I'd mention the Dutch and they'd get a stupified look on their faces.

[mcscajun]

2. Only $15 billion? Before the war on Iraq, that was Chicken Feed to this

country!

:grr:

"There's nothing magical about what they do." -- Nope...just a matter of WILL, is all. They have the will to keep their country dry, we don't have the will to keep our Gulf Coast citizens and their cities safe.

:grr:

[Tesha]

3. Bottom line: Big government!

The "secret" to the Dutch levies is exactly what many
parts of this country simply refuse to accept:

*BIG GOVERNMENT*

Gather enough money and spend it wisely and amazing things
can happen. By comparison, piddle it out in dribs and drabs,
never quite what your technical experts have asked for and
certainly never spending enough to come near to "critical
mass" and you've wasted it all.

The Dutch raise and spend the required money.

We prefer to piddle and then blame government for screwing up,
and we don't just do it on levees.

Tesha

[moondust]

6. delete

[Jayhawk Lib]

4. Easy solution

Do not build below sea level. For sure do not rebuild below sea level. Move inland where it is above sea level.

[Tesha]

7. You know that's very unpopular with the partisans (partysans?), right?

You know that suggestion is *VERY* unpopular with the partisans
(partysans?), right?

I've defended it before, and they will crucify you if they
read it.

Of course, in our rather large country (and with global climate
change guaranteed to raise sea levels and worsen the weather),
it's the most practical suggestion *BY FAR*, unlike in the
Low Countries where the simply haven't got much place to go
without bumping into their neighboring countries.

But good luck to you...

Tesha