Sea+Level+Rise+Solutions+-+New+Orleans

After Hurricane Katrina the New Orleans Metropolitan Area, became under the Sea level, therefor the US government has deployed Army Corps of Engineers to come up with measures to prevent any future flooding that might occur due to sea level rising. First how can a sea level rising occur? There are several ways, but New Orleans main source of concern are the hurricanes, because they are the cause of flooding. The Army Corps of Engineers unfortunately cannot eliminate the threat of floods, but they were able to develop a way of minimizing them. In 1879 the US authorized the construction of 4.5 to 6 meters high levees above the sea level along the shore lines. They are able to contain the surge and waves of a Category 3 hurricane. Before going any further let us first understand what are levees? Levees are an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels. The following video will show the implementation of more levees since the hurricane Katrina. media type="youtube" key="LyBIiLYLBRY?version=3" width="442" height="303" The city of New Orleans also received an implementation of drainage canals (108 km of surface and subsurface canals) with the support of 22 pumping stations. What do the drainage canals do? They collect the water that went over the levees and any storm water, and pump them back into bodies of water protected by flood-protection levees. Unfortunately the sea level is rising and the levees that are supposed to protect New Orleans from the floods will no longer be as efficient as they are supposed to be. Not only because the sea level is higher, but because hurricanes are getting more powerful with the passing of time. Therefore New Orleans is adapting its strategies in order to reduce its vulnerability. They adopted the following measures: 1. Update levees to be able to withstand hurricanes of Categories 4 & 5. 2. Design and maintain flood protection on the basis of historical and projected rates of local subsidence, rainfall, and sea-level rise. 3. Minimize drain-and-fill activities, shallow subsurface fluid withdrawals, and other human developments that enhance subsidence.

4. Improve evacuation routes.

5. Protect and restore coastal defenses.

6. Encourage flood proofing of buildings and infrastructure.

7. Develop flood-potential maps that integrate local elevations, subsidence rates, and drainage capabilities (for use in the design of ordinances, greenbelts, and other flood-damage reduction measures). The government is also going to use GPS to monitor the land over time. With the monitoring of GPS it will able to provide information planning, constructing, and maintaining infrastructure and levees. However as accurate as it may be, it is a very expensive method, but the efficiency and accuracy of the GPS fortunately outweighs its price, and it is replacing the classical line-of-sight surveying methods for establishing horizontal control. The situation in New Orleans is a good example on how global warming is affecting people's lives and what we can do to prevent future disasters resolting from sea level rise.

Sea Level Rise relation to climate change

According to scientist Jim Titus, Environmental Protection Agency's project manager on sea level rise, about 6,000 years ago the level between sea and land became stable. However, Titus said that over the past century sea level on parts of the USA has risen 20 to 35 centimeters. Titus said: "We only know that sea level last century rose more than average over the last several thousand years." Sea level rise occurs because of the increasing temperatures on ocean waters, and that is melting the glaciers in the artic poles. Climate change is playing a direct role on sea level rise. According to Titus research sea level rise only started to happen in recent times, it was unaltered for thousands of years. Therefor climate change is occuring due to the greenhouse effect, that is making climate change. Key terms Levees: elongated naturally occuring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">drain-and-fill activities: removing water from the flooded areas and placing them into lakes.subsidence: motion of a surface as it shifts downward relative to a datum such as sea-level. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]: plan to minimize floods and update current measures. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">[] : map of New Orleans in reference to the sea level <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]: current issues with New Orleans plan to minimize floods. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">[]: Jim Titus

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">For more information on sea level rise you can also visit other pages in this wiki:

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Flood Prevention in Holland Ways to Cope with Sea Level Rise include component="comments" page="Sea Level Rise Solutions - New Orleans" limit="10000"