New Orleanians have long been told that the pumps that remove rainwater from our streets can handle one inch of rain during the first hour of a storm, and a half-an-inch an hour after that. It has led some to ask, "is that the best we can do?"
New Orleans City Councilmember Eugene Green posed the question to Sewerage & Water Board General Superintendent Steve Nelson during a recent meeting of the Public Works Committee.
"Is there a solution to being able to do more than one inch an hour?" he asked.
"Yes," Nelson said. "There are options, there are engineering solutions that can be applied. Now, how that gets applied, and the cost thereof, now that we're responsible for the entirety of the system, we can investigate that, lay that out there."
Nelson said it would cost money, and said the council may want to consider assessing a drainage fee, rather than funding the drainage system through property tax millages. Green said that may also mean getting the state involved to help find the money.
