[StBernard] Rebuilding New Orleans: Subsidence and Sea-Level Riseare the Greatest Threats

[Westley Annis]

I want to preface this message with a few things. Many on this listserv
don't know me, but I have lived in the greater New Orleans area my whole
life. EVERYTHING I know is in St. Bernard and in Louisiana. I worked at the
University of New Orleans in the Geography Dept. and had many members showed
me some of this data about two years ago. I was a History/Political Science
Major and love the rich history and texture of New Orleans. I spent many of
days taking carriage rides with my 14 yr old (God, I'm getting old) teaching
her the city like a tourist so that she would always appreciate it's beauty
and heritage.  And it's knowing this that I now put this thought out there,
and it's not easy. I know many people have begun working in there homes,
however, I wonder if it's time to stop for a minute and consider this- blow
the levees at the ninth ward and let St. Bernard fill in from the river.
Hear me out before you start screaming at your computer. The River passes 1
million cubic feet of soil almost every minute. If we let the river go for a
few months (under controlled conditions), it could raise the entire area
several feet, even yards. It could fill in areas down in Delecroix and Shell
Beach where areas were washed away back during Betsy. Any additional land
could be put to use as a buffer and could be flooded further if another bad
hurricane came and we lost some. This would help tremendously with erosion,
we regenerate the land as it leaves from the one resource we have. It could
expand the land further into the Gulf, allowing the State to take back much
needed tax revenue from the oil industry that has to pay taxes if within a 2
or 5 mile area of the coast. It could help flush a lot of the pollution from
Katrina from our back waterways. AND, all of our property could technically
be reissued via GPS plotting. The idea came from my boyfriend's home. He
only received about 5 ft of water on a slab home. The reason- the levees
blew about 75 years ago in his area the soil deposited and raise the entire
area. His home was about 9ft higher and we only lived 3 miles apart. If we
raised St. B 9 ft and the levees were at 17ft above that, we could then
handle a 26ft wall of water, which would have meant, at worst, about 4 ft in
people's homes. Also, being higher would allow St. B to be a better barrier
than it is AND water would have to flow away from us as opposed to us
because we were higher. I have seen historical building in the quarter taken
down brick by brick and rebuilt, we could actually do this here on
historical items. Most of us lost everything with Katrina, burying that
tradgedy would be like burying our dead. I know this proposal sounds crazy,
I feel like a traitor saying it, but I am trying to think LONG term, longer
than most. The additional benefit, the oil would be buried far below any
place we would ever have to worry. Would could help with erosion. We could
develop more marsh lands in areas uncharted. Lastly, it could slow this
sinking problem. More solid ground lower would help to hold things in place
further up. It's a crazy thought from an insane person, but it contains some
logic and thought that could benefit the entire parish as a whole. I hope
this didn't offend too many people, I have been thinking this for about 2
months and finally decided to put it into words.
 
Defrosting in Maine (it's a balmy 40 degrees)
 
Wendy Hall