This document provides an overview of the Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan, which aims to restore balance to New Orleans through improved management of water resources. It discusses problems like flooding and subsidence facing New Orleans and opportunities to improve safety, economic vitality, and quality of life. Specific strategies are proposed for different basins, including using canals, wetlands, and green infrastructure to store and circulate water, reduce flooding risks, and recharge groundwater. Case studies of projects in different neighborhoods are also presented to demonstrate how the plan could be implemented. The economic benefits of the plan are estimated to outweigh the costs over 50 years.

1. LIVING WATER, BUOYANT LAND
David Waggonner
Waggonner and Ball
31 March 2014
Restoring Balance to the City
Water is the Eye of the Earth

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Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Rotterdam, Netherlands

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Rotterdam, Netherlands

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Shaoxing, China

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Shaoxing, China

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New Orleans

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New Orleans

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Mardi Gras Parade, New Orleans

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New Orleans Matters

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Water Economy

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Water City

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Dutch Dialogues

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MULTIPLE LINES OF DEFENSE
Urban Water
Management
Louisiana 2007 Coastal Master Plan
Multiple Lines of Defense

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Living Lines of Defense

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Combining Good Ideas

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Planning Approach
Inhabitation
Land Cover
Infrastructure
Networks
Soils
Water
Biodiversity

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Problems
1. Flooding
2. Subsidence
3. Water Assets Wasted

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1. Flooding
2. Subsidence
3. Water Assets Wasted
Problems

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1. Flooding
2. Subsidence
3. Water Assets Wasted
Problems

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Opportunities
1. Improved Safety
2. Economic Vitality
3. Enhanced Quality of Life

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1. Improved Safety
2. Economic Vitality
3. Enhanced Quality of Life
Opportunities

31. LIVING WATER, BUOYANT LAND
1. Improved Safety
2. Economic Vitality
3. Enhanced Quality of Life
Opportunities

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Problems: 10 Year Storm Modeled Flooding
Estimated Damages Due to Flooding
Over Next Fifty Years: $7.99 Billion

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System Modeling: Proposed Water System

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Landscape Types: Soils and Subsidence
Estimated Damages Due to Subsidence
Over Next Fifty Years: $2.19 Billion
High Subsidence Potential
Moderate Subsidence Potential

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Living in a Basin

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Landscape Types

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A Tale of Two Systems
Pump + Drain
Store DrainSlow

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Water Strategies: Split at the Ridge

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Proposed Stormwater Flows
A storage-based system that works with natural features
System scale water storage
Small scale strategies to slow water
Split at the ridge waterworks 5 miles
Stormwater Proposals

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Proposed Everyday Water Flows
A circulating system to recharge groundwater and improve quality
Brackish water
Fresh water
Urban wetland filtration 5 miles

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Living Water System
System Components
Green Streets, Circulating Canals,
Parklands, and Waterfronts

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Costs Come Before Benefits

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Regional Costs vs. Benefits Over Fifty Years
52 Greater New Orleans UrBuilding Value
Estimated Economic Value: Quantitative Benefits
Common two-year, five-year, and ten-year storm events in the New Orleans
area (with 50%, 20%, and 10% chance of occurring each year, respectively)
impose an economic drain on local businesses and property owners. Beyond
the structural damage and lost worker productivity, these flood events, over 50
years, produce approximately 600,000 tons of debris and leave over 270,000
households in need of temporary shelter.
Reduced Flooding
Cost $8.0 Billion
By actively managing the region’s groundwater levels, the Plan minimizes
land subsidence, thereby reducing damage to structures and infrastructure,
including levee improvement costs. Only costs associated with building
structural damage are presented here. Infrastructure costs due to subsidence,
such as damage to streets, sidewalks, utilities, etc, which are not quantified
within the scope of this project, will be significantly higher.
Reduced Subsidence
Cost $2.2 Billion
The National Flood Insurance Program allows cities and counties to earn
discounts on flood insurance premiums for their residents through the
Community Rating System. The CRS awards points to communities that
implement technical solutions and outreach campaigns that mitigate flood
risk. Analysis of the credits currently earned by Orleans and Jefferson Parish
communities, and the range of credits available, reveals that there is potential
for significant savings in all three parishes.
Lower Flood
Insurance Premiums $609 Million
By investing in new open canals, storage areas and green space, the Urban
Water Plan stands to have a positive impact on property values and new
investment. Over 41,500 properties lie within 200 meters of a proposed
intervention or improvement. Using assessed values for these parcels, it is
estimated that with intensive implementation, property values would increase
by $183 million.
Increased Property
Values $183 Million
The Urban Water Plan introduces a new industry, creating jobs in the design,
construction, and maintenance of stormwater management practices. In
addition to the wages paid to individual workers, these new jobs create an
economic benefit to society in expanding the tax base and reducing poverty-
related costs. Intensive implementation of the plan would create up to 101,790
direct and indirect jobs (full and part-time) over the next 50 years and have a
regional economic impact of $11.3 Billion.
Economic Impact
and Job Creation $11.3 Billion
>$22.3 Billion
=
Total Economic Be
+
+
+
EEcono
& Jo
Reduced Cost of
Flood Damages
Reduced Cost of
Subsidence Damage
Improved
Insurability
Increased
Property Values
1%2%
10%
36%
Quantitative Benefit Ratios
0
5
10
6.2
22.3
15
20
Slow
Store
Drain
Incre
Prop
Impr
Insur
Redu
due t
Redu
due t
Econ
& Jo
Urban Water Plan
Long-Term Cost
50 Year
Benefit
Billions($)
Plan Costs vs. Benefits
+
53Greater New Orleans Urban Water Planlue
mated Economic Value: Quantitative Benefits
Common two-year, five-year, and ten-year storm events in the New Orleans
area (with 50%, 20%, and 10% chance of occurring each year, respectively)
impose an economic drain on local businesses and property owners. Beyond
the structural damage and lost worker productivity, these flood events, over 50
years, produce approximately 600,000 tons of debris and leave over 270,000
households in need of temporary shelter.
educed Flooding
Cost $8.0 Billion
By actively managing the region’s groundwater levels, the Plan minimizes
land subsidence, thereby reducing damage to structures and infrastructure,
including levee improvement costs. Only costs associated with building
structural damage are presented here. Infrastructure costs due to subsidence,
such as damage to streets, sidewalks, utilities, etc, which are not quantified
within the scope of this project, will be significantly higher.
duced Subsidence
Cost $2.2 Billion
The National Flood Insurance Program allows cities and counties to earn
discounts on flood insurance premiums for their residents through the
Community Rating System. The CRS awards points to communities that
implement technical solutions and outreach campaigns that mitigate flood
risk. Analysis of the credits currently earned by Orleans and Jefferson Parish
communities, and the range of credits available, reveals that there is potential
for significant savings in all three parishes.
Lower Flood
urance Premiums $609 Million
By investing in new open canals, storage areas and green space, the Urban
Water Plan stands to have a positive impact on property values and new
investment. Over 41,500 properties lie within 200 meters of a proposed
intervention or improvement. Using assessed values for these parcels, it is
estimated that with intensive implementation, property values would increase
by $183 million.
creased Property
Values $183 Million
The Urban Water Plan introduces a new industry, creating jobs in the design,
construction, and maintenance of stormwater management practices. In
addition to the wages paid to individual workers, these new jobs create an
economic benefit to society in expanding the tax base and reducing poverty-
related costs. Intensive implementation of the plan would create up to 101,790
direct and indirect jobs (full and part-time) over the next 50 years and have a
regional economic impact of $11.3 Billion.
conomic Impact
nd Job Creation $11.3 Billion
>$22.3 Billion
=
Total Economic Benefit
+
+
+
EEconomic Impact
& Job Creation
Reduced Cost of
Flood Damages
Reduced Cost of
Subsidence Damage
Improved
Insurability
Increased
Property Values
51%
1%2%
10%
36%
Quantitative Benefit Ratios
0
5
10
6.2
22.3
15
20
Slow
Store
Drain
Increased
Property Values
Improved
Insurability
Reduced Damages
due to Subsidence
Reduced Damages
due to Flooding
Economic Impact
& Job Creation
Urban Water Plan
Long-Term Cost
50 Year
Benefit
Billions($)
Plan Costs vs. Benefits
+

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Diverse Populations

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September 2013
Waggonner & Ball Architects
Vision
Greater New Orleans
Urban Water Plan

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September 2013
Waggonner & Ball Architects
Urban Design
Greater New Orleans
Urban Water Plan
September 2013
Waggonner & Ball Architects
Implementation
Greater New Orleans
Urban Water Plan
September 2013
H+N+S Landscape Architects
System Design
Greater New Orleans
Urban Water Plan

47. Team & Partners
Arcadis
Deltares
Royal Haskoning
City of Rotterdam
City of Amsterdam
H+N+S Landscape Architects
Bosch Slabbers Landscape Architects
Robbert de Koning Landscape Architect
Palmbout Urban Landscapes
Technical University Delft
Manning Architects
Dana Brown Landscape Architects
FutureProof
CDM Smith
Nelson Engineers
Dewberry
GCR
Eustis Engineering
Sherwood Design Engineers
Tulane University
LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio
Bright Moments
Waggonner & Ball ArchitectsWaggonner & Ball Architects

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Living in a Basin
Metro Basin
Orleans
East Basin St. Bernard Basin
Adaptation will be second
nature, as the region, the
place which President
Jefferson referred to as the
“Island of New Orleans,”
becomes a true delta city.

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Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Borgne
West Bank
Jefferson Parish
New Orleans
New Orleans East
St. Bernard
Gulf of Mexico
Regional Plan

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Jefferson Basin
1. Louis Armstrong
International Airport
2. Airline to City Center
3. Elmwood Fields and
Water Lanes
4. Hoey’s Basin
5. 17th St. Canal
6. Canal St. Canal
7. Veteran’s Canal
8. Kenner Parklands
9. LaBranche Wetlands
10. Lake Pontchartrain
9
8
1
10
2
7
3
6 5
4

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1
6
2
3
4
7
9
9
9
10
11 12
1. Lafitte Blueway
2. Orleans Avenue Canal
3. Bayou St. John
4. London Avenue Canal
5. Filmore (Gentilly)
6. Claiborne Corridor
7. Desire Parklands
8. Inner Harbor
Navigation Canal
9. Uptown Streets
10. Palmetto Canal
11. Hollygrove & the
Monticello Canal
12. Lakeview
5
6
11
Orleans Basin

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Orleans East Basin
7. Bayou Michoud
8. Gulf Intracoastal
Waterway
2
1
3
1. Chef Menteur Highway
2. Dwyer Canal
3. Heart of the East
4. Morrison Canal
5. Lincoln Beach and
Lake Pontchartrain
6. Bayou Sauvage
Wildlife Refuge
4
8

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St. Bernard Basin
1. Lower Ninth Ward of
New Orleans
2. Bayou Bienvenue
3. Chalmette
4. Forty Arpent Zone
5. Central Wetlands Unit
6. Violet Canal 7. Bayou Terre aux
Boeufs
1
3
4 7
5
2
6

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St. Bernard Basin: Chalmette and Lower Ninth Ward

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Chalmette Blueway

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Chalmette Blueway

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Forty Arpent Canal

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N
Claiborne
Avenue
Florida
Canal
St. Claude
Avenue
Potential
Streetcar Line
Bayou
Bienvenue
Wetlands
Assmiliation
Project
Lower Ninth Ward and Desire Parklands

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Lower Ninth Ward: Adaptive Wetlands

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Inner Harbor

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City Arrival

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Integrate Water and Transportation Networks

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Airport Arrival and Kenner Wetlands

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Canal Street Canal: Groundwater Infiltration Test

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Canal Street Canal: Groundwater Infiltration Test

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Canal Street Canal: Revitalized Canal

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Lowland Canals: Typical Canal Retrofits
West Esplanade Canal

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Lowland Canals: Typical Canal Retrofits
West Esplanade Canal

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Wally Pontiff Park

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New Identity for Jefferson

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Kenner Wetlands

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Elmwood District
Dry Condition Wet Condition
Watersystem: Condition dry period
May 2013Jefferson Elmwood, lines & fields
Waterlane
Waterlane Gutter
Gutter
Parking lots
Empty lots
Waterway
Culvert waterway
Small weir
Big pump
400’ 1600’ 4000’ 8000’
Small rainfall
Oktober 2012Jefferson Elmwood, lines & fields
Filled waterlane
Waterlane Gutter InfiltrationStorage
Gutter
Infiltration in parking lots
Infiltration/storage on empty lots
Waterflow
Storage
Small weir
Big pump

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Elmwood District: Green Rooftops and Parking Lots

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Elmwood District: Water Lanes

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Commercial Setbacks: Proposed Condition

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Uptown to Bucktown: Redirect Upslope Drainage

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Uptown to Bucktown: Interceptor Streets

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Uptown to Bucktown: Interceptor Streets

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Uptown to Bucktown: River to Lake
Katrina Memorial
West End storage
basin and park
Connections to
Jefferson Parish
Lake Avenue
New developments with
mixed-use waterfront
housing
Slow, Store, Drain
locally with vacant
lots; basin-wide with
vacant lots
Canal Street Canal
Redesign canal to store
water in rain event;
recharge groundwater
in dry periods
Networks of bike
and pedestrian
pathways
Emergency water
overflow and
everyday flow to
reduce subsidence
17th Street Canal Upper
lower water level; widen canal;
lower walls; bike and pedestrian
access
Lower capacity
for Pump 6
17th Street Canal Lower
fluctuating water levels: high
when dry, drain before it rains
Cascade to slow
stormwater and
runoff storage
Possible enlarged
storage capacity
Possible water storage
and riverfront
development adjacent
to new development
Xavier University
waterfront development
bridging Palmetto Canal
Palmetto Canal
Raise water levels;
provide pedestrian
pathways and
recreation
Hollygrove slow,
store, drain; utilize
NORA lots and parks
Emergency
stormwater
overflow
Emergency inlet
to reduce
subsidence
Purification zone
for river water
Bike Trail
Pump to River
outlet for
Claiborne
New inlet for
drinking water
Retain,
Store,
Drain
Slow, drain
Split of water
basins

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Monticello Canal

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Monticello Canal

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Monticello Proposal

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Uptown to Bucktown: Hoey’s Basin/Monticello Canal

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Uptown to Bucktown: Hoey’s Basin/Monticello Canal

85. SANKT JØRGENS SØ
Zollhallen Platz, Freiburg Linnenbauerplatz, Herford

86. SANKT JØRGENS SØ

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Uptown to Bucktown: Hollygrove

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dry
wet
Uptown to Bucktown: Floating Streets

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Uptown to Bucktown: Floating Streets

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Lakeview and Bucktown

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Pontilly Hazard Mitigation Grant

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Pontilly Hazard Mitigation Grant

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18 miles
DPS #4
DPS #3
DPS #7
DPS #6
DPS Dwyer
DPS #19
26 linear miles of potential waterfront
Rediscovered Waterfronts

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London Avenue Canal

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Outfall Canals

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Figure 3
4
6
8
10
12
VD)
London Canal
Minimum Bank Elevation 1 ft Freeboard 2 ft Freeboard Scenario 1
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000
Elevation(ftNAV
Distance from DPS03 (ft)
London Avenue Canal
Figure 4
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
VD)
Orleans Canal
Minimum Bank Elevation 1 ft Freeboard 2 ft Freeboard Scenario 1
-2.0
-1.0
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
0.0 2000.0 4000.0 6000.0 8000.0 10000.0 12000.0
Elevation(ftNAV
Distance from DPS7 (ft)
Orleans Canal
Outfall Canals

97. LIVING WATER, BUOYANT LAND
Outfall Canals

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City Park

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City Park

100. LIVING WATER, BUOYANT LAND
Lafitte Blueway: Historic Water Identity

101. LIVING WATER, BUOYANT LAND
Greater New Orleans Water Management StrategyLafitte Blueway Drainage Impact
Waggonner & Ball ArchitectsLafitte Blueway: Drainage Impact

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Lafitte Blueway

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Circulating System

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Lafitte Blueway: Basin Street

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Lafitte Blueway: Bayou Cascade

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London Avenue Canal Wetlands

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London Avenue Canal Wetlands

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Mirabeau Water Garden

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Mirabeau Water Garden

110. LIVING WATER, BUOYANT LAND
Mirabeau Water Garden
140 acres CAPTURED RUNOFF
DIRECT
SECONDARY
745 acres IMPROVED FLOW
PUMP STATION #4
FRENCHQUARTER
PUMP STATION #3
PUMP STATION #17
PUMP STATION #19
L A K E P O N T C H A R T R A I N
LAKEFRONT PUMP
STATION (INTERIM)
LONDONAVENUECANAL
INDUSTRIALCANAL
BAYOUST.JOHN
This area drains through two main
pipes under Mirabeau and Owens
Blvds, which can be diverted into
the site
Retention upstream allows drainage
in this area to flow more efficiently
to Pump Station #4
Reduced volume at Pump Station #4
benefits the entire Gentilly area
2,900 acres INCREASED PUMP CAPACITY
Less water entering the London Avenue
Canal at Pump Station #4 makes pumping
at Station #3 more effective
LOWERED CANAL WALLS6,115 acres
(London Avenue Canal watershed)
BENEFITS
25 acres RETENTION AND STORAGE
CSJ + adjacent vacant properties
developed into water storage
M I S S I S S I P P I R I V E R
3,785 acres
6,115 acres
TOTAL 9,900 acres
N
1 mi

111. LIVING WATER, BUOYANT LAND
Forebay
Municipal
Drainage
Pump
Filtration Terraces
Public Access
Cypress
Forest
Swimming
Pool
Willow Grove
Lillies
Grasses
Mirabeau Water Garden
LIGHT RAIN EVENTDRY CONDITION EXTREME RAIN EVENTAVERAGE RAIN EVENT

112. LIVING WATER, BUOYANT LAND
Mirabeau Water Garden

114. LIVING WATER, BUOYANT LAND
Living with Water

115. CLAIMING THE EDGE, CONNECTING THE CENTER
Bridgeport

116. CLAIMING THE EDGE, CONNECTING THE CENTER
Bridgeport

117. CLAIMING THE EDGE, CONNECTING THE CENTER
Bridgeport

118. CLAIMING THE EDGE, CONNECTING THE CENTER
Bridgeport

119. CLAIMING THE EDGE, CONNECTING THE CENTER
Bridgeport

120. CLAIMING THE EDGE, CONNECTING THE CENTER
Bridgeport

121. CLAIMING THE EDGE, CONNECTING THE CENTER
Bridgeport
Park to Park Park

122. CLAIMING THE EDGE, CONNECTING THE CENTER
Amsterdam
l i v i n g w i t h w a t e r . c o m