Dam facts.In last issue's editorial, "Katrina KATRINA Keeping All the Resources in New Orleans Alive KATRINA Krewe Aiding Trash Removal In the New Orleans Area Storm Warnings," I was disappointed to see that your writers did not do their homework regarding the maintenance of the almost 400 miles of levees around the New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded region. The article incorrectly states that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was responsible for the maintenance of these structures before Katrina hit. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, while many levees throughout the country have been constructed by the Corps of Engineers, most of these levees are turned over to local entities for maintenance. In the case of the levees in New Orleans, maintenance responsibility fell solely to the local levee levee (lĕv`ē) [Fr.,=raised], embankment built along a river to prevent flooding by high water. Levees are the oldest and the most extensively used method of flood control. boards, not the Corps of Engineers. The only levees maintained by the Corps of Engineers in the New Orleans area are the levees along the Mississippi River Mississippi River River, central U.S. It rises at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and flows south, meeting its major tributaries, the Missouri and the Ohio rivers, about halfway along its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. . Those levees remain intact, unlike those maintained by the local levee boards. G. Bowman Via e-mail |
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