The North Shore's rapid growth is bringing new homes, subdivisions and commercial development, but a local civil engineer says the infrastructure needed to support that growth has to keep pace.
Licensed civil engineer H.J. Bosworth says drainage is one of the biggest concerns as undeveloped land and forests are transformed into subdivisions, roads and commercial areas.
Bosworth says St. Tammany Parish experienced significant flooding issues following heavy rain in the 1980s, prompting stricter rules for subdivision development. Those rules require developers to account for how much water runs off a property after natural land is cleared and developed.
But with development occurring rapidly across parish lines, Bosworth says the challenge becomes bigger than any one subdivision or parish.
"Because growth is rapid, because growth is parish by parish, you don't always have control over the next parish to the north or the next parish to the west," Bosworth said.
He says water doesn't recognize those political boundaries, and development in one parish can affect areas downstream.
Bosworth says Louisiana would benefit from a statewide approach to hydrology and drainage planning, rather than leaving individual parishes to address problems independently.
"It's been a problem for a number of years that the state of Louisiana doesn't have a hydrology plan," he said.
That becomes particularly important as more forest and undeveloped land is converted to residential and commercial use. Bosworth says development changes the way water moves across the landscape, making it critical to understand the drainage patterns of the surrounding area before construction begins.
And while some residents may worry that infrastructure challenges could slow the North Shore's growth, Bosworth says development is likely to continue.
"Anytime the highway department builds new highways into different areas, you're going to have development," he said. "Anytime you have development, you're going to have drainage issues."
His concern is not necessarily stopping that growth, but making sure the infrastructure is planned alongside it.
"If you don't address those as the development goes in, then someone will be flooded," Bosworth said.
For the North Shore, that means the question may not be whether growth continues but whether drainage, roads and other infrastructure can keep pace with it.
