Historic Louisiana

surplus from the one percent debt tax. Today,
the drainage system is funded though
property taxes, while the water and sewerage
systems are funded through service charges
and user fees.
At the time the water works system was
developed, New Orleans was relying on
ground absorption and open drainage canals
for storm water disposal.
Because the river levees are higher than
the lake levees, most rainwater is pumped
into Lake Pontchartrain. Exceptions are the
two West Bank pumping stations and two
stations in Eastern New Orleans that pump
rainwater into the Intracoastal Waterway
or the Industrial Canal. The original pumps
designed by A. Baldwin Wood are still
in use, admired by experts who come
from nations with similar flooding problems,
such as the Netherlands, to investigate
and replicate.
There are twenty-two Drainage Pumping
Stations in New Orleans. Station personnel
are on duty 24-hours a day, seven days
a week. There are also thirteen underpass
stations, each with two or three pumps
that are automatically turned on by rising
water. The system’s pumping capacity is
over 29 billion gallons a day, enough to empty
a lake 10 square miles by 13.5 feet deep every
24 hours.
The S&WB’s drainage network includes
approximately 90 miles of open canals and 90
miles of subsurface canals. Many of the
subsurface canals are large enough to drive a
bus through.
✧
Above: New massive subsurface drainage
canals are under construction throughout
the city.
Below: The S&WB purifies approximately
forty-seven billion gallons of water per year.
The Mississippi River is the city’s only
source of water.
SHARING THE HERITAGE
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