Link to site: military officials and weather modification experts could be on the verge of joining forces to better gauge, react to, and possibly nullify future hostile forces churned out by Mother Nature.

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- joint air and space operations to deal with after-the-fact problems, perhaps the foundation for how to fend off disastrous weather may also be forming.
- degrade the effectiveness of enemy forces. That could come from flooding an opponent’s encampment or airfield to generating downright downpours that disrupt enemy troop comfort levels.
- It is likely the Department of Defense would be the lead agency in any new efforts in severe storm modification.

Leonard David, Senior Space Writer 31 October 2005
The one-two hurricane punch from Katrina and Wilma along with predictions of more severe weather in the future has scientists pondering ways to save lives, protect property and possibly even control the weather.

While efforts to tame storms have so far been clouded by failure, some researchers aren’t willing to give up the fight. And even if changing the weather proves overly challenging, residents and disaster officials can do a better job planning and reacting.

In fact, military officials and weather modification experts could be on the verge of joining forces to better gauge, react to, and possibly nullify future hostile forces churned out by Mother Nature.
While some consider the idea farfetched, some military tacticians have already pondered ways to turn weather into a weapon.

Harbinger of things to come?

The U.S. military reaction in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that slammed the U.S. Gulf coast might be viewed as a harbinger of things to come. While in this case it was joint air and space operations to deal with after-the-fact problems, perhaps the foundation for how to fend off disastrous weather may also be forming.

Numbers of spaceborne assets were tapped, among them:
• Navigation and timing signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS) of satellites;
• The Global Broadcast Service, a one-way, space-based, high-capacity broadcast communication system;
• The Army’s Spectral Operations Resource Center to exploit commercial remote sensing satellite imagery and prepare high-resolution images to civilian and military responders to permit a better understanding of the devastated terrain;
• U.S. Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites that compared "lights at night" images before and after the disaster to provide data on human activity.

Is it far-fetched to see in this response the embryonic stages of an integrated military/civilian weather reaction and control system?

Mandate to continually improve

The use of space-based equipment to assist in clean-up operations -- with a look toward future prospects -- was recently noted by General Lance Lord, Commander, Air Force Space Command at an October 20th Pacific Space Leadership Forum in Hawaii.

"We saw first hand the common need for space after the December 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean," Lord said. "Natural disasters don’t respect international boundaries. Space capabilities were leveraged immediately after the tsunami to help in the search and rescue effort…but what about before the disaster?"

Lord said that an even better situation is to have predicted the coming disaster and warned those in harm’s way. "No matter what your flag or where you waive it from...the possibility of saving hundreds of thousands of people is a mandate to continually improve," he advised.

The U.S. Air Force is also looking at ways to make satellites and satellite launches cheaper and also reduce the amount of time it takes to launch into space from months to weeks to days and hours, Lord said. Having that capability will increase responsiveness to international needs, he said, such as the ability to send up a satellite to help collect information and enhance communications when dealing with international disasters.

Thunderbolts on demand

What would a military strategist gain in having an "on-switch" to the weather?

Clearly, it offers the ability to degrade the effectiveness of enemy forces. That could come from flooding an opponent’s encampment or airfield to generating downright downpours that disrupt enemy troop comfort levels. On the flipside, sparking a drought that cuts off fresh water can stir up morale problems for warfighting foes.

Even fooling around with fog and clouds can deny or create concealment – whichever weather manipulation does the needed job.

In this regard, nanotechnology could be utilized to create clouds of tiny smart particles. Atmospherically buoyant, these ultra-small computer particles could navigate themselves to block optical sensors. Alternatively, they might be used to provide an atmospheric electrical potential difference -- a way to precisely aim and time lightning strikes over the enemy’s head – thereby concoct thunderbolts on demand.

Perhaps that’s too far out for some. But some blue sky thinkers have already looked into these and other scenarios in "Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025" – a research paper written by a seven person team of military officers and presented in 1996 as part of a larger study dubbed Air Force 2025.

Global stresses

That report came with requisite disclaimers, such as the views expressed were those of the authors and didn’t reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the United States government. Furthermore, the report was flagged as containing fictional representations of future situations and scenarios.

On the other hand, Air Force 2025 was a study that complied with a directive from the chief of staff of the Air Force "to examine the concepts, capabilities, and technologies the United States will require to remain the dominant air and space force in the future."

"Current technologies that will mature over the next 30 years will offer anyone who has the necessary resources the ability to modify weather patterns and their corresponding effects, at least on the local scale," the authors of the report explained. "Current demographic, economic, and environmental trends will create global stresses that provide the impetus necessary for many countries or groups to turn this weather-modification ability into a capability."

Pulling it all together

The report on weather-altering ideas underscored the capacity to harness such power in the not too distant future.

"Assuming that in 2025 our national security strategy includes weather-modification, its use in our national military strategy will naturally follow. Besides the significant benefits an operational capability would provide, another motivation to pursue weather-modification is to deter and counter potential adversaries," the report stated. "The technology is there, waiting for us to pull it all together," the authors noted.

In 2025, the report summarized, U.S. aerospace forces can "own the weather" by capitalizing on emerging technologies and focusing development of those technologies to war-fighting applications.

"Such a capability offers the war fighter tools to shape the battlespace in ways never before possible. It provides opportunities to impact operations across the full spectrum of conflict and is pertinent to all possible futures," the report concluded.

But if whipping up weather can be part of a warfighter’s tool kit, couldn’t those talents be utilized to retarget or neutralize life, limb and property-destroying storms?

All-weather worries

"It is time to provide funds for application of the scientific method to weather modification and control," said Bernard Eastlund, chief technical officer and founder of Eastlund Scientific Enterprises Corporation in San Diego, California.

Eastlund’s background is in plasma physics and commercial applications of microwave plasmas. At a lecture early this month at Penn State Lehigh Campus in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania, he outlined new concepts for electromagnetic wave interactions with the atmosphere that, among a range of jobs, could be applied to weather modification research.

"The technology of artificial ionospheric heating could be as important for weather modification research as accelerators have been for particle physics," Eastlund explained.

In September, Eastland filed a patent on a way to create artificial ionized plasma patterns with megawatts of power using inexpensive microwave power sources. This all-weather technique, he noted, can be used to heat specific regions of the atmosphere.

Eastlund’s research is tuned to artificial generation of acoustic and gravitational waves in the atmosphere. The heating of steering winds to help shove around mesocyclones and hurricanes, as well as controlling electrical conductivity of the atmosphere is also on his investigative agenda.

Carefully tailored program plan

Eastlund said that the reduction in severity or impact of severe weather could be demonstrated as part of a carefully tailored program plan.

"In my opinion, the new technology for use of artificial plasma layers in the atmosphere: as heater elements to modify steering winds, as a modifier of electrostatic potential to influence lightning distribution, and for generation of acoustic and gravitational waves, could ultimately provide a core technology for a science of severe weather modification," Eastlund told SPACE.com.

The first experiments of a program, Eastlund emphasized, would be very small, and designed for safety. For example, a sample of air in a jet stream could be heated with a pilot experimental installation. Such experiments would utilize relatively small amounts of power, between one and ten megawatts, he pointed out.

Both ground-based and space weather diagnostic instruments could measure the effect. Computer simulations could compare these results with predicted effects. This process can be iterated until reliable information is obtained on the effects of modifying the wind.

Computer simulations of hurricanes, Eastlund continued, are designed to determine the most important wind fields in hurricane formation. Computer simulations of mesocyclones use steering wind input data to predict severe storm development.

After about 5 years of such research, and further development of weather codes, a pilot experiment to modify the steering winds of a mesocylone might be safely attempted. Such an experiment would probably require 50 to 100 megawatts, Eastlund speculated.

"I estimate this new science of weather modification will take 10 to 20 years to mature to the point where it is useful for controlling the severity and impact of severe weather systems as large as hurricanes," Eastlund explained.

Inadvertent effects?

Another reason for embarking on this new science could be to make sure inadvertent effects of existing projects, such as the heating of the ionosphere and modifications of the polar electrojet, are not having effects on weather, Eastlund stated.

As example, Eastlund pointed to the High frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP). This is a major Arctic facility for upper atmospheric and solar-terrestrial research, being built on a Department of Defense-owned site near Gakona, Alaska.

Eastlund wonders if HAARP does, in fact, generate gravity waves. If so, can those waves in turn influence severe weather systems?

Started in 1990, the unclassified HAARP program is jointly managed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and the Office of Naval Research. Researchers at the site make use of a high-power ionospheric research instrument to temporarily excite a limited area of the ionosphere for scientific study, observing and measuring the excited region using a suite of devices.

The fundamental goal of research conducted at the facility is to study and understand natural phenomena occurring in the Earth’s ionosphere and near-space environment. According to the HAARP website, those scientific investigations will have major value in the design of future communication and navigation systems for both military and civilian use.

Messing with Mother Nature

Who best to have their hands on the weather control switches?

The last large hurricane modification experiments -- under Project Stormfury -- were carried out by the U.S. Air Force, Eastlund said. "It is likely the Department of Defense would be the lead agency in any new efforts in severe storm modification."

Additionally, federal laboratories with their extensive computational modeling skills would also play a lead role in the development of a science of weather modification. NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would find their respective niches too. The satellite diagnostic capabilities in those agencies would play a strong role, Eastlund suggested.

It appears that only modest amounts of government dollars have been spent on weather modification over the last five years.

"Hurricane Katrina could cost $300 billion by itself," Eastlund said. "In my opinion, it is time for a serious scientific effort in weather modification."

"Global warming appears to be a reality, and records could continue to fall in the hurricane severity sweepstakes," Eastlund said. "When I first suggested the use of space-based assets for the prevention of tornadoes, many people expressed their displeasure with ‘messing with Mother Nature’. I still remember hiding in the closet of our house in Houston as a tornado passed overhead. It is time for serious, controlled research, with the emphasis on safety, for the good of mankind," he concluded.

Link to site: Flood water sampling

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- EPA is carrying out extensive sampling of standing flood waters in the City of New Orleans.
- EPA is ensuring coordination of data between federal, state, and local agencies and will routinely release data as soon as it is available

Flood water sampling
EPA is carrying out extensive sampling of standing flood waters in the City of New Orleans. The Agency follows a quality assurance process that ensures that the data is thoroughly reviewed and validated. This process is being used for all data received as part of the emergency response. EPA is ensuring coordination of data between federal, state, and local agencies and will routinely release data as soon as it is available.

* Boil water - To kill major water-borne diseases, bring water to a rolling boil for 1 minute. Boil 3 minutes at elevations above 5280 ft (1 mile or 1.6 km).

* What to do about water from household wells after a flood . Do not turn on the pump - danger of electric shock. Do not drink or wash with water from the flooded well. More info. General info about household wells.

* Dehydration (extreme thirst) can be life-threatening in older adults. Make sure older adults have enough good drinking water and are drinking it. Older adults risk dehydration because they may feel thirsty less, because of medications, or due to physical conditions that make it difficult to drink. More information about dehydration risks in older adults.

* EPA and HHS Urge Caution in Areas Exposed to Contaminated Flood Water - guidelines for those in contact with flood water. Flood water test results...

For water and wastewater facilities
* Suggested post-hurricane activities - to help facilities recover from severe weather conditions.
* National Emergency Resource Registry (https://www.swern.gov/) - Register if you have resources to help water utilities recover from Katrina.

Link to site: Early government tests show Gulf waters are clean enough for people to go swimming and eat some seafood, but submerged storm debris means people should still stay away

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- We didn't have any identifiable releases of large amounts of industrial contamination
- have not had any rainfall since Hurricane Katrina and that we will likely see some spikes of contamination when we begin to get some normal rainfall back here.
- it is too soon to tell whether seafood had been dangerously contaminated.


By Mike Keller, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Oct. 27--Early government tests show Gulf waters are clean enough for people to go swimming and eat some seafood, but submerged storm debris means people should still stay away, according to officials.

"We didn't have any identifiable releases of large amounts of industrial contamination," said Phil Bass, spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. "But I also want to remind everybody that we basically have not had any rainfall since Hurricane Katrina and that we will likely see some spikes of contamination when we begin to get some normal rainfall back here."

The first group of water-quality tests came back showing certain types of bacteria below government limits for recreation, but officials cautioned it is too soon to tell whether seafood had been dangerously contaminated.

"All 20 monitoring stations tested showed at this time that the water was appropriate for what is referred to as primary contact recreation," said Ben Grumbles, spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency. "While this is encouraging for recreational uses, this data should not be used to assess the safety of consuming raw or undercooked molluscan shellfish such as oysters."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration completed its first round of chemical tests on seafood from Mobile Bay to Louisiana waters.

Steve Murawski, an NOAA spokesman, said that contaminants are "far below" government limits in the 23 shrimp samples they analyzed. He said that NOAA scientists would continue to check seafood until they are confident that no contaminants are creeping into coastal waters and seafood.

"We'll be monitoring because some of the contaminants may take a while to work their way out into the ocean environment," he said.

Government researchers monitoring the health of Gulf waters have been looking closely for chemicals called brominated fire retardants, which are indicators of chemicals washing off of urban areas.

In what seemed to be an attempt to quell potential fears of seafood consumers, Don Kraemer, a spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency responsible for monitoring the safety of commercial seafood, said there were two reasons not to be worried.

"One, because the waters which were impacted from the hurricane remain closed to the harvest of oysters and other molluscan shellfish," he said. "On the other side, of crab, shrimp and fin fish, none of the analytical results to date show contamination at or above levels of concern of any of the contaminants that have been tested."

MDEQ's Bass added: "We're happy to report that some of our oysters and even some of our shrimping is back in operation."

Link to site: Hurricane Katrina proved America is paying a high price for its loss of wetlands, scientists say, and activists are pressing for restoration of swamps and marshes to prevent new catastrophes.

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains that wetlands "function as natural sponges that trap and slowly release surface water, rain, snowmelt, groundwater and flood waters."
- The wildlife service notes that 220 million acres of wetlands existed in the lower 48 states in colonial America. That total has declined to about 100 million acres.
- In the spring of 2004, President Bush pledged his administration to a no-net-loss policy and went so far as to commit to annual gains in wetlands habitat. Critics assert he has not honored that pledge and that the Army Corps of Engineers, a key federal agency charged with protecting wetlands, is engaging in practices that are destroying thousands of acres.

BILL STRAUB, Scripps Howard News Service, October 24, 2005
Hurricane Katrina proved America is paying a high price for its loss of wetlands, scientists say, and activists are pressing for restoration of swamps and marshes to prevent new catastrophes.

In a speech on the Senate floor last February, Sen. Mary Landrieu warned lawmakers that disappearing wetlands along the coast of her native Louisiana - vanishing at the rate of 25 square miles a year - would ultimately result in "more severe and frequent flooding than ever before" and cost in the billions of dollars.

"With the loss of barrier islands and wetlands over the next 50 years, New Orleans will lose its wetland buffer that now protects it from many effects of flooding," she said. ""Hurricanes will pose the greatest threat, since New Orleans sits on a sloping continental shelf that makes it extremely vulnerable to storm surges."

Landrieu's words proved eerily prescient. Less than eight months later, Katrina hit the region with Category 5 fury, inundating New Orleans and causing billions of dollars in damages.

Katrina hit the New Orleans region with such force that ruin likely would have resulted regardless. But scientists are almost unanimous in their assessment that vanishing wetlands are having a deleterious impact, creating hazardous conditions that could have been mitigated by their continued existence.

Too often, environmentalists say, communities are draining swamps and marshes to allow for commercial and residential development. "Disappearing wetlands increase the risk of flooding, threaten the survival of migrating birds and endangered species and diminish the environment for outdoor lovers and sportsmen," said Eric Schaeffer, director of the Environmental Integrity Project, a Washington-based interest group.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains that wetlands "function as natural sponges that trap and slowly release surface water, rain, snowmelt, groundwater and flood waters."

"Trees, root mats, and other wetland vegetation also slow the speed of flood waters and distribute them more slowly over the floodplain," the service said in a statement. "This combined water storage and braking action lowers flood heights and reduces erosion. Wetlands within and downstream of urban areas are particularly valuable, counteracting the greatly increased rate and volume of surface-water runoff from pavement and buildings. The holding capacity of wetlands helps control floods and prevents water logging of crops."

Despite their value and even though protections are offered under the Clean Water Act of 1972, wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate. The wildlife service notes that 220 million acres of wetlands existed in the lower 48 states in colonial America. That total has declined to about 100 million acres.

From the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, the lower 48 lost an average of 458,000 acres of wetland each year. Between the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, the loss rate dropped to about 290,000 acres annually. Today, the annual loss rate is somewhere between 70,000 and 110,000 acres.

In the spring of 2004, President Bush pledged his administration to a no-net-loss policy and went so far as to commit to annual gains in wetlands habitat. Critics assert he has not honored that pledge and that the Army Corps of Engineers, a key federal agency charged with protecting wetlands, is engaging in practices that are destroying thousands of acres.

In a report issued last month, the Environmental Integrity Project said the Army Corps has opened more than 11,000 acres of wetlands in 15 states for development since the spring of 2004. Among the enterprises who benefited was a Wal-Mart shopping center in Texas, a titanium sand mine in Georgia, a peat bog mine in Florida and a highway project in North Dakota.

"This administration is not very good at keeping promises made to the American people," said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel for the environmental group Earthjustice. "The president and his appointees promised not to change the Clean Water Act's rules, but they are shirking that responsibility by just ignoring those rules. In turn, they are breaking the promise of the Clean Water Act, which is to protect all of the nation's waters, to make them safe for drinking water, for swimming and fishing. This cannot be done when the Corps leaves waters out of the law's scope."

James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, defended the administration's record, saying a report released by the council in April shows the administration is on target to "restore, preserve and protect at least three million acres of wetlands over the next five years.'' The effort was enhanced, he said, by $40 billion in conservation funding in the 2002 Farm Bill and reauthorization of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.

The administration is looking to develop public-private partnerships to meet its goals.

"Working collaboratively has proven remarkably effective in improving and sustaining America's wetlands," Connaughton said.

However, in two separate reports released last month, the Government Accountability Office found the Army Corps has failed to determine whether developers were offering proper justification for building in wetlands before issuing permits. It also accused the agency of failing to explain why it is not assuming jurisdiction over disputes rising from wetlands development.

"These reports show that the Corps is failing to ensure that Clean Water Act regulations are applied to their full extent and is providing no rationale for its failure to protect many wetlands," said Jim Murphy, water resources counsel for the National Wildlife Federation. "And if this isn't troubling enough, the Corps is making little effort to ensure that permitted impacts to wetlands are mitigated. This all adds up to wetlands losses that are not being accounted for."

The Army Corps officially accepted the criticisms contained in the reports and said it is developing policies to address the problems.

Link to site: the latest pollution data in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina indicated for the first time that the Mississippi Delta was again a safe place to swim.

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- Sediment left behind should be avoided because of fecal bacteria, chemicals, metals and other contaminants it might contain, officials said Friday.
- EPA has been allowing raw sewage not fully disinfected to flow into the Mississippi River in at least two places because of broken treatment facilities
- all the federal data sampling and test results have been coordinated through the White House's Council on Environmental Quality.


JOHN HEILPRIN, The Associated Press, 10/21/2005 
WASHINGTON (AP) — While casting a nervous eye at Hurricane Wilma, federal and state officials reported Friday that the latest pollution data in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina indicated for the first time that the Mississippi Delta was again a safe place to swim.
"This is encouraging for recreational uses, but the data should not be used for assessing the safety of consuming shellfish," Benjamin Grumbles, head of the Environmental Protection Agency's water office, told reporters.

Environmental and health officials had previously recommended that people avoid contact with floodwaters that have since been pumped into Lake Pontchartrain and should use soap and clean water to decontaminate themselves if contact couldn't be avoided. Sediment left behind should be avoided because of fecal bacteria, chemicals, metals and other contaminants it might contain, officials said Friday.

Water samples from 20 locations in the Gulf of Mexico's river channels and near shorelines were collected aboard The Bold, EPA's sole ship for monitoring ocean and coastal waters. The data from Sept. 27 to Oct. 2 showed the presence of a type of sewage-related bacteria, Enterococcus, but at levels that didn't violate freshwater or marine water standards, the agency said.

EPA was awaiting further analysis for another type of sewage-related bacterium, Clostridium perfringens, which also causes diarrhea, nausea and other stomach illness.

The agency on Friday dispatched officials to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's regional headquarters in Atlanta and EPA's own emergency center in Tallahassee, Fla., to deal with any oil or hazardous material spills from Wilma.

FEMA and other federal and local agencies urged residents in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to watch closely Wilma's path. Some areas of the Florida mainland were ordered evacuated ahead of the powerful, slow-moving hurricane.

"We, like everyone else, have our eyes on the tracking of Hurricane Wilma," Grumbles said.

In New Orleans, EPA has been allowing raw sewage not fully disinfected to flow into the Mississippi River in at least two places because of broken treatment facilities, said Chris Piehler, senior environmental scientist for Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality.

Grumbles said EPA was "closely monitoring the situation."

There have been no such identifiable releases of sewage contamination in the Gulf of Mexico's waters along Mississippi, said Phil Bass, director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality's Office of Pollution Control.

"We're still advising, not because of water contamination, but because of debris primarily in our waters, to stay out of the (Mississippi) Sound," Bass said. "We're happy to report that some of our shrimping is back in operation. Our fin fishery appears to be healthy and that's beginning to come back."

Federal officials emphasized they were only commenting on the safety of swimming or boating in Mississippi Delta waters and accidentally swallowing a gulp. They still recommend not drinking the water and expressed caution about consuming undercooked or raw shellfish such as oysters.

The Food and Drug Administration "has no reason to question the safety of commercially available seafood from Mississippi, Louisiana or Alabama," said Donald Kraemer, the acting head of its seafood office. Kraemer said none of the pollution data shows contamination "at or above levels of concern" for crab, shrimp and most fish with fins.

Steve Murawski, chief science adviser to the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service, said all the federal data sampling and test results have been coordinated through the White House's Council on Environmental Quality.

Murawski noted that all the results were preliminary, since some of the contaminants might take time to work their way through the water, air and land, and into the food chain.

Link to site: We focus on New Orleans because it was so densely populated, but there are other little towns that are worse off.

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- concluded that exposures are not expected to cause bad effects if proper protection is worn
- Katrina Environmental Research and Restoration Network (KERRN) will be a network of researchers who share data and ideas crossing disciplinary and geographical boundaries to provide models on how to respond to major environmental disasters.

HEATHER MOYER, WASHINGTON, D.C. October 21, 2005
The environmental health impact of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina is serious and communities should be prepared, said speakers at a Institute of Medicine conference Thursday.
We focus on New Orleans because it was so densely populated, but there are other little towns that are worse off.

"Environmental Public Health Impacts of Disasters: Hurricane Katrina" was sponsored by the Roundtable of Environmental Health Sciences, Research and Medicine. Speakers discussed a range of topics, from the challenges Hurricane Katrina created to how communities can be better prepared for such disasters.

In New Orleans, health officials are contending with the chemicals and bacteria being found in floodwater and lingering sediment. Chemicals such as arsenic, lead and petroleum products have been found in tests done by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

"The EPA and (Centers for Disease Control) concluded that exposures are not expected to cause bad effects if proper protection is worn, so we've been checking to make sure residents are doing that," said Dr. Kevin Stephens, director of health for the New Orleans Health Department.

Stephens said the city is still learning more about the risks residents and workers face from cleaning up debris and just being in the formerly flooded areas.

"Our local health department has questions about long-term effects - what should we monitor? How should we monitor it? And what should our communication strategies be?" asked Stephens at the conference.

He added that he hopes continued cooperation with the EPA and other federal and state health agencies will assist to making sure residents and workers are safe.

The New Orleans Health Department is also monitoring sickness outbreaks, something Stephens said he was amazed happened rarely considering how many people were kept in such close-quarters. He said there was a respiratory illness outbreak in one city cleaning team two weeks after Katrina, but instituting a cleaning convention within the unit immediately brought down the cases of the illness.

Stephens added that the biggest health problem the agency is finding within the city right now are "unintentional injuries," such as residents falling off roofs and other cleanup mishaps.

Dr. Jimmy Guidry, state health officer and medical director for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, said it is important to give attention to other devastated areas besides New Orleans.

"We focus on New Orleans because it was so densely populated, but there are other little towns that are worse off," he said. "But there's not much left standing in St. Bernard Parish or Plaquemines Parish."

For Guidry, the challenge is rebuilding the health system in the devastated regions of the state where how many health professionals will return is unknown. Major hospitals in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana have been condemned or seriously damaged.

Many of Thursday's speakers brought up other health issues they worry may be ignored as time passes. In Louisiana, some of the debris is slated to be burned because there is so much. "How will that affect people and the environment?" asked Guidry.

Other health issues mentioned included the increase of mosquitoes and the possibility of West Nile Virus, long-term mental health, the increase of vermin that may carry disease, re-certifying restaurants and members of the food industry, drinking water supplies, wastewater plant repairs, mold and how it affects indoor air quality, and making sure recovery workers and residents are protected while cleaning up.

"We're going to have major issues with educating the public about mold risks," Guidry said. "And if workers get hurt or sick on the job, our medical infrastructure isn't there to help them."

Other agencies are making sure workers are properly trained before doing debris removal.

"A common denominator of all disasters is that you have a worker like a first responder or those in consequence management - Katrina is no different," said Max Keifer, associate director of emergency preparedness for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

"We're now worried about the influx of workers to Louisiana and the region who are looking for jobs. They may not be trained and we want to protect them. Some may be asked to do work they are not trained or outfitted for."

A scientist involved with the aftermath of Sept. 11 and the related air quality issues from the World Trade Center collapse also spoke at Thursday's conference. Dr. Paul Lioy of the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine at Rutgers Univeristy had some words of advice for those planning the cleanup of the Gulf Coast.

"In New Orleans and the South you will have dust and it will be made up of all kinds of things," said Lioy. "We're still tearing down buildings (in New York City) because we can't clean them up. This will also be an issue the South will have to deal with."

Related to the dust, Lioy said that knowing its specific make-up is crucial to cleaning it up correctly. "Characterize your dust now, know what's in it and know it well. It's not just one single chemical, it's multiple toxins. And those toxins may not alone impact people, but they could react differently mixed together."

Lioy also advised those present to make sure no one is left out during the cleanup phase and to make sure responders and workers are equipped with respirators. Pointing to an image of Ground Zero cleanup workers with respirators resting around their necks, Lioy cautioned the conference-goers.

"One of the most serious issues after Sept. 11 was that no one wore respirators (during cleanup)," he explained. "You need to make sure that not only government workers and large contractors have them, but that everyone has them and wears them."

Conference speakers also addressed the issue of repopulating and rebuilding the hardest hit areas of New Orleans. Monique Harden, co-director of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, said she worries that the low-income residents of the city will not be included in important discussions about the environmental risks of moving back.

"Communities need to be at the table in the talks about rebuilding," said Harden.

Noting that Hurricane Katrina exposed many failures within the environmental regulatory system, Harden said the EPA needs to explain their tests on the water and sediment.

"They say the environmental data is publicly accessible, but it's not for low-income residents. It's also not easily understood."

Harden also worries about the six EPA superfund sites in the city and other sites now newly contaminated by the floodwater. Harden showed the conference a photo of a vacant lot across from her home where workers were depositing sewage. None wore facemasks or gloves and she was confused as to why the lot - which the photos showed was now oozing sewage material into the street - was suddenly allowed to be a sewage disposal site.

"What we don't need is a blanket waiver of public health laws," said Harden. "We need to develop environmentally sustainable initiatives. What we need is the EPA convening monthly meetings with the community."

For Dr. Sandral Hullett, CEO of Jefferson Health System in Alabama, developing a trust within the community is the only way cleanup and rebuild plans can succeed. Hullet spoke about her work with the 10 poorest counties in Alabama, most of which suffered serious damage from the high winds and tornadoes Katrina spawned.

"You have to have the community be part of the process to be successful and have them not feel used," said Hullet.

Out of the devastation from Katrina can spring new partnerships, said other speakers. When the flooding inundated New Orleans, many major universities lost valuable research facilities. Dr. John McLachlan, a professor of environmental studies at Tulane and Xavier Universities, and some of his fellow researchers are now using his fifth-floor loft apartment in New Orleans as their research facility. Through that, he said, they came up with the idea of a major partnership to benefit everyone after Hurricane Katrina.

The Katrina Environmental Research and Restoration Network (KERRN) will be a network of researchers who share data and ideas crossing disciplinary and geographical boundaries to provide models on how to respond to major environmental disasters. He gave the example of one university already contacting him asking how they can do some research on the water contamination in the Mississippi near New Orleans. McLachlan said he connected that university up with another area university with a boat that is already out doing something similar.

"It is a network of skills and interests, we'll match research needs and skills," said McLachlan. "This will also ensure maximum benefit and avoid duplication of efforts. And it will help us pass on lessons learned to the next disaster."

Link to site: today EPA announced the quality assured test results from water samples collected by the OSV Bold in the Gulf.

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- EPA's initial assessment is now complete and sample analysis is currently proceeding as planned. Additional results of water, sediment and fish tissue analysis will be released as the data become available.
- The data being released today is available at: http://www.epa.gov/katrina/testresults/water/index.html#surface

Contact: Eryn Witcher, 202-564-4355 / witcher.eryn@epa.gov
(Washington, D.C.-Oct. 21, 2005) In ongoing efforts actively to provide information to the public about activities surrounding Hurricane Katrina recovery, today EPA announced the quality assured test results from water samples collected by the OSV Bold in the Gulf.

"Today's water sampling results are an important part of the large-scale, collaborative effort to monitor the hurricane's impact on water in the Gulf," said Benjamin H. Grumbles, assistant administrator for the Office of Water. "Our ship, the OSV Bold, is a floating laboratory that has been used in this cooperative response, providing a vehicle for shared testing and analysis."

EPA announced the first pathogen indicator data collected by the EPA vessel. This data was collected from Sept. 27 through Oct. 2, 2005 at monitoring stations in the river channels and nearshore waters surrounding the Mississippi Delta. The agency monitored 20 areas to determine whether fecal pollution from flooded communities had spread into these waters.

All 20 monitoring stations tested showed that at the time the water was appropriate for primary contact recreation--including swimming. While this is encouraging for recreational uses, this data should not be used to assess the safety of consuming raw or undercooked molluscan shellfish--such as oysters-- because accidental ingestion of water presents different risks than eating raw or undercooked shellfish.

The analyses performed aboard the OSV Bold tested for Enterococcus and Clostridium perfringens. Today's results are from Enterococcus only as the Clostridium analysis requires additional time. At four stations, Enterococcus was detected from 10 to 53.1 per 100 ml --- which is below the marine water standard of 500 per 100 ml and the freshwater standard of 151 per 100 ml.

EPA's initial assessment is now complete and sample analysis is currently proceeding as planned. Additional results of water, sediment and fish tissue analysis will be released as the data become available.

The OSV Bold is a scientific survey vessel 224 feet long and 43 feet wide that collects oceanographic data in waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. The Bold initiated monitoring and assessment surveys for EPA in August 2005 and will serve as the principal platform for this multi-agency effort to assess the near-shore environmental and human health impacts of Hurricane Katrina. The data being released today is available at: http://www.epa.gov/katrina/testresults/water/index.html#surface and information about EPA's survey vessel the Bold is available at: http://www.epa.gov/bold

Release date:10/21/2005

Link to site: New Orleans's public health director marveled publicly Thursday over the absence of any disease outbreak in the wake of the strike by Hurricane Katrina

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- estimated that New Orleans contains enough debris to fill the Superdome 40 times.
- there are the questions of draining all areas of the city, providing drinkable water for the public, controlling disease carriers such as mosquitoes and rats, ensuring a food supply, debris disposal, sewage treatment, indoor air quality, disposal of toxic chemicals and the safety of people working to improve conditions, Guidry said.
- Raw sewage is being dumped into the Mississippi River

RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, The Associated Press, 10/20/2005
WASHINGTON (AP) — New Orleans's public health director marveled publicly Thursday over the absence of any disease outbreak in the wake of the strike by Hurricane Katrina.

"I was just amazed," Dr. Kevin Stephens told an Institute of Medicine workshop on the health impact of natural disasters. Thousands of people crammed into the Superdome with no water, overflowing toilets, heat and stress could have provided ideal conditions for lowering resistance and beginning the spread of an infectious disease, he noted.

Stephens said in the aftermath of the storm he instituted monitoring of emergency care and other medical centers in hopes of quickly detecting outbreaks such as influenza, meningitis, hepatitis, E. coli infections and even tetanus, but there were no major increases.

At one point there was a jump in respiratory infections, he said, which was quickly traced to a virus being spread at one of the emergency medical centers. Sanitation measures were tightened and the outbreak was halted, Stephens said.

On the other hand, communications among authorities was a problem.

"Anything that could go wrong in communications went wrong in Katrina," said Stephens. And as the cleanup progressed, he said, there was an increase in injuries such as chain saw cuts.

Dr. Lynn Goldman, vice chairman of the workshop, said the goal is to learn from what happened there.

The nation is facing a series of threats — terrorism, the spread of diseases such as SARS, West Nile virus and bird flu, as well as natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, said Goldman, a professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University.

She praised the work of local emergency officials who struggled to help others even as their own homes and families were affected.

Indeed, Stephens and his family were forced to move in with his parents because of storm damage, he told the IOM meeting. The Institute is an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

The work to protect public health is continuing 51 days after the hurricane made landfall, said Dr. Jimmy Guidry, Louisiana's medical director.

With thousands of people evacuated from the city, the question is where to put those coming back, Guidry said. "We are looking at the neighborhood of 100,000 trailers to house people."

In addition there are the questions of draining all areas of the city, providing drinkable water for the public, controlling disease carriers such as mosquitoes and rats, ensuring a food supply, debris disposal, sewage treatment, indoor air quality, disposal of toxic chemicals and the safety of people working to improve conditions, Guidry said.

And, he noted, more storms are possible with Hurricane Wilma currently under way, although it appeared Thursday as a greater threat to Florida.

"Every time one of them is out there in the Gulf my blood pressure goes up a little bit," Guidry said. He estimated that New Orleans contains enough debris to fill the Superdome 40 times.

That means it is too much for landfills and some will have to be burned, he said, which raises questions about air quality.

The volume of debris is so great that it will take months to handle, commented Environmental Protection Agency chief Stephen Johnson.

Disposal of spoiled food from homes and the city's many restaurants is another problem, Guidry said, estimating that 300,000 refrigerators in the city will need to be replaced or refurbished after weeks without electricity.

Raw sewage is being dumped into the Mississippi River, he added. This is not a good practice but the EPA permitted it to get the sewage out of the city so the treatment plant can be repaired, he said.

After days or weeks under water, mold is a growing problem in many buildings, he added, raising serious health problems from breathing indoor air.

"How do we get back to a sense of normalcy, a sense that we can go on with our lives," Guidry asked.

Link to site: I'm very concerned about the levee systems in New Orleans East,

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- complaints that restoration of water service has been unfairly delayed in the East,
- They need water in their lines so they can clean up their houses,
- Breaks and myriad leaks in the lines were allowing contaminated water and debris into the system after the storm

Bruce Hamilton, Staff writer, Thursday, October 20, 2005
Disputing what he called "rumors and innuendo," Mayor Ray Nagin on Wednesday vowed to rebuild eastern New Orleans and the Lower 9th Ward "as fast as we possibly and humanly can."

The mayor made his pledge a day after he testified on Capitol Hill about his plans for the city's recovery. At that hearing, he told two House Transportation subcommittees that the question of how to protect areas east of the Industrial Canal "has not been answered yet. The rest of the city we can rebuild."

That remark indicated he was uncertain about the degree to which eastern New Orleans and the Lower 9th Ward could be rebuilt. But Nagin soundly dismissed any uncertainty Wednesday, saying he had been misquoted. But he again expressed doubt that the eastern portion of the city is adequately protected against flooding. "I'm very concerned about the levee systems in New Orleans East," he said, "which causes us to pause as we start to repopulate."

The mayor spoke Wednesday at the first post-Katrina meeting of the Sewerage & Water Board, of which he is chairman. He also addressed widespread complaints that restoration of water service has been unfairly delayed in the East, saying it has been restored first to areas where the water system had less damage.

Pick up pace, critics say

Before Nagin arrived at the meeting, the developer of Eastover Country Club, the president of New Orleans East Business Association and City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis all addressed the board to decry the area's lack of water.

"New Orleans does not stop at the Industrial Canal," Willard-Lewis said to a smattering of applause from audience members. "What happened as a result of Katrina was an act of God, but what has now happened are actions of man that are not deploying resources in a fair and appropriate manner."

The councilwoman noted water service has been restored in Algiers, the French Quarter, Uptown and elsewhere. "I know that there has been movement," she said. "I say the movement has been at a snail's pace while initially it seemed like you were trying to win the marathon in other parts of the city."

She pleaded for urgency on behalf of her constituents. "They need water in their lines so they can clean up their houses," she said. "It is a crime to starve and to deny what is basic to restoration."

Donald Pate, president of Eastover Development Corp., said the subdivision's 200 residents need water to combat mold immediately. "We desperately need water. Our homes are deteriorating daily. We don't need water to drink at this point in time, but we need water to work with."

Pate said 10 crews are working daily, using truckloads of water from outside the city, to clean up mold-damaged houses.

Sherman Copelin, chairman of the Eastover Property Association and president of the New Orleans East Business Association, asked the water board to "kick it up a notch" to restore water. "You can't have commerce without water," he said. "We can't have commerce Uptown and in Algiers and not have commerce in eastern New Orleans."

'Toxic' issue surfaces

Pate and Copelin, a former state representative, both criticized Sen. Ann Duplessis, D-New Orleans, for remarks attributed to her by a newscaster in an interview Wednesday morning on WWL Radio. Duplessis reportedly warned residents in a private meeting against a toxic environment in eastern New Orleans.

"The Environmental Protection Agency has been in the East, and they have taken samples," Pate said. "And they have told us it's OK to return." Said Copelin, "We happen to know the EPA has been to Eastover. It's not toxic."

Duplessis did not return phone calls Wednesday.

Nagin defended the progress of water restoration, saying those efforts were limited by the hurricane's effects. "Katrina, when she left us, she left us with certain segments of the city that weren't as damaged, and that's the areas we focused on first with the limited resources we had," he said.

"And whether you like it or not, the areas that were least damaged were Algiers, Uptown, the Central Business District, the French Quarter and Treme. And that is the decision point for how we start to bring this city back."

Battling leaks

Breaks and myriad leaks in the lines were allowing contaminated water and debris into the system after the storm, and the city had to make some hard decisions in order to certify drinking water, Nagin said. In eastern New Orleans and the Lower 9th Ward, he said, "we had to temporarily shut down some of the water, period."

The mayor said the water board planned, as of Monday, to restore water in eastern New Orleans in 10 days. "We went out and started to pump water in New Orleans East. Guess what happened? We found a significant number of leaks, particularly around the Lakefront Airport," he said. "That forced us to shut the system down again."

Joe Sullivan, the water board's general superintendent, said workers are hunting for leaks and repairing them. "We are continually striving to get water pressure in the area," he said.

Staff member Rudy August said 18 to 24 contractor crews are working daily in addition to water board staff; of 1,300 work orders, nearly 70 percent have been finished, he said.

August said that between 500 and 1,000 more repairs are needed "to really tighten the system up." Workers have identified about 800 defects or leaks on private property, which also hinder restoration, he said. "It's an ongoing challenge, and it may be awhile before we're able to get water to parts of New Orleans East."

Link to site: NSF asks UCF to quickly develop water purification system using nanoparticles to aid disaster victims

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- developing coated nanoparticles and water purification systems, respectively, to propose a portable method for producing safe drinking water from any source.
- The key to the process is a naturally created nanoparticle that can kill bacteria that foul membranes used as filters to produce drinking water. In catastrophic situations such as Hurricane Katrina or the recent earthquake in Pakistan, the membranes become so fouled by bacteria that they become unusable for water treatment.
- hope to develop an adaptable method for producing quality water in any kind of emergency.

NSF asks UCF to quickly develop water purification system using nanoparticles to aid disaster victims
The National Science Foundation has asked two University of Central Florida researchers to quickly develop a unique water purification system to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina and other disasters.

The professors were awarded a $10,000 startup grant from NSF this month as part of a rapid response program designed to support research that can directly benefit those affected by Katrina. The researchers will submit their research results to NSF in six months. The agency is also encouraging the scientists to connect the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies directly tied to disaster relief for immediate application of any useable technology.

Professors Sudipta Seal from the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering and James Taylor from Civil and Environmental Engineering combined their expertise in developing coated nanoparticles and water purification systems, respectively, to propose a portable method for producing safe drinking water from any source.

The key to the process is a naturally created nanoparticle that can kill bacteria that foul membranes used as filters to produce drinking water. In catastrophic situations such as Hurricane Katrina or the recent earthquake in Pakistan, the membranes become so fouled by bacteria that they become unusable for water treatment.

"By introducing nanoparticles into a mobile integrated membrane system, we can create potable water from a variety of sources," said Seal, who also works with the Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center.

Taylor, who has conducted water treatment research since 1975, said drinking water could be consistently produced even from wastewater if the fouling bacteria could be killed. Taylor is responsible for more than $10 million in project funding at UCF, including a major desalination effort for Tampa Bay Water and the American Water Works Association Research Foundation.

UCF was able to respond immediately to the need for a water purification system because of the quality research those scholars were already conducting, said M.J. Soileau, vice president for research. Seal and Taylor are part of a team that UCF is assembling to address alternative water sources for Florida, as water issues for the Central Florida region and the state are approaching crisis proportions.

With the seed funding, the researchers hope to develop an adaptable method for producing quality water in any kind of emergency.

Link to site: A plume of green runoff from Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters has spread from the Louisiana coast and across the Gulf of Mexico.

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Highlights:
- The runoff, visible from U.S. weather satellites, contains algae, slightly elevated levels of metals and large amounts of fresh water. Fishermen also have reported seeing oil slicks and occasional debris such as tree branches, 2-by-4s and cattle carcasses.
- Much of the plume has drifted toward the center of the Gulf of Mexico and been diluted,
- concerned that fertilizer and other nutrients in the runoff might intensify a prolonged outbreak of toxic "red tide" algae that has hit patches of the Florida Gulf Coast

Matt Reed, USA TODAY Wed Oct 19,
A plume of green runoff from Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters has spread from the Louisiana coast and across the Gulf of Mexico. One 7-mile-wide band has drifted more than 500 miles toward southwestern Florida, where the Gulf Stream, a powerful ocean current, is likely to dilute it and carry it up the Atlantic Coast.

The runoff, visible from U.S. weather satellites, contains algae, slightly elevated levels of metals and large amounts of fresh water. Fishermen also have reported seeing oil slicks and occasional debris such as tree branches, 2-by-4s and cattle carcasses.

A round of tests by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, taken Sept. 12-16 off Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, found no threats to human health in the water or the fish swimming in it. Results of tests taken Oct. 6 through Sunday haven't been finalized.

Hurricane Katrina struck the Louisiana and Mississippi coast Aug. 29. The next day, flood barriers failed along Lake Pontchartrain, inundating large sections of New Orleans with water 10 feet deep. As Katrina's storm surge ended and New Orleans was pumped dry, polluted water fed into the Gulf.

"What's in that water, I don't know," says Mitch Roffer, a private oceanography consultant who uses satellite images to track fisheries and currents for clients that include fishing outfits and oil companies.

Sport fishermen from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., who cruised the cloudy green water reported poor catch rates and dead fish, Roffer says. Those who worked in clean water outside the plume caught plenty of fish, but many fish had empty or shrunken stomachs.

NOAA reported that 154 fish and crab samples found normal levels of pesticides and industrial chemicals and no traces of E. coli bacteria from human or animal feces.

Much of the plume has drifted toward the center of the Gulf of Mexico and been diluted, Roffer says. Some runoff drifted about 80 miles off southwest Florida. A computer model at the University of South Florida in Tampa projected it would drift into the Atlantic and north past Cape Canaveral and Daytona Beach by today. By Tuesday, nothing had come ashore along the east coast of central Florida.

Plenty of storm debris washed up on the Texas coast, says Greg Gawlikowski, a satellite image analyst who works for Roffer's fishery and current-forecasting service. Some beaches along South Padre Island were strewn with lumber, gas cans, household appliances and other junk, he says.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was concerned that fertilizer and other nutrients in the runoff might intensify a prolonged outbreak of toxic "red tide" algae that has hit patches of the Florida Gulf Coast from Naples north to the Panhandle, spokesman Willy Puz says. The algae kills fish, smells bad and can make beachgoers' eyes and throats sting.

Mike Bomar, manager of Capt. Mike's Parasail in St. Pete Beach, says media coverage about red tide has hurt tourism almost as much as the outbreak itself. St. Pete Beach hasn't experienced fumes or dead fish in nearly a month, he says.

The Alden Resort, a few yards east of Bomar's beach kiosk, continues to receive telephone inquiries about red tide from prospective guests, assistant manager Tony Dilley says.

"It's frustrating because you can't fight perception," Bomar says of the downturn in demand for cabanas, paddleboats and parasail rides. "We probably lost 30% or more this summer."

Contributors: Reed reports daily for Florida Today in Melbourne

Link to site: Individuals and communities will likely be faced with correcting the subsequent contamination of private as well as public water supples

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- National Environmental Services Center offers numerous free and low-cost products to help individuals and communities learn more about emergency preparedness, emergency response, and potential health effects of water contamination.
- Free from the National Drinking Water Clearinghouse:
- From the National Small Flows Clearinghouse

In light of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation of coastal areas of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, restoring clean drinking water to the many destroyed small communities is a job almost beyond comprehension. Although less horrendous, much of the inland areas of these states and others have also been affected by flooding. Individuals and communities will likely be faced with correcting the subsequent contamination of private as well as public water supples. It is also imperative that individuals with contaminated private wells and springs contact their local health departments for more information and assistance.

To aid in this effort, the National Environmental Services Center offers numerous free and low-cost products to help individuals and communities learn more about emergency preparedness, emergency response, and potential health effects of water contamination. When requesting these materials, please give the product number listed before each item.

Free from the National Drinking Water Clearinghouse:
DWFSPE57—Emergency Disinfection of Water Supplies
DWBLOM05—Shock Chlorination of Wells and Springs
DWFSPE204—Water for Emergency Use
DWBLMG69—Response Protocol Toolbox: Planning and
responding to drinking water contamination
threats and incidents
DWPKOM59—Emergency Response Planning Pack (ERPP)
DWBLPE58—Water Testing
DWBLPE97—Water Testing Scams
DWFSPE140—Bacteriological Contamination of Drinking Water
DWBLPE183—Mycrobacteria: Drinking Water Fact Sheet
DWBLPE112—Interpreting Drinking Water Quality Analysis:
What do the numbers mean?
DWCDMG64—Emergency Response Tabletop Exercises for
Drinking Water and Wastewater Systems

From the National Small Flows Clearinghouse:
SFPLNL30—How to keep your Water “well” $0.40
SFPLNL06—Wastewater treatment protects small
community life, health $0.40
GNBKGN12—Community-based environmental protection—
A Resource Book for Protecting Ecosystems and Communities (Book on CD-Rom) $10.00
SFPLNL11—Basic wastewater characteristics $0.40

From the National Environmental Training Center for Small Communities:
TRBLGN25—Emergency Response Planning Resources for
Small Water and Wastewater Utilities $2.55
TRBLGN26—Emergency Response Plan Guidance for Small
and Medium Community Systems $8.00
TRPMCD62—Due Diligence—Small Water System Security $32.00
TRPMCD56—Preparing for the Unexpected: Security for
Small Water Systems $39.80
TRBKMG03—Protecting Your Community’s Assets: A Guide
for Small Wastewater Systems $15.00
TRCDMG05—(CD-Rom Version) $10.00

To order any of these publication, please contact NESC at (800) 624-8301, e-mail info@mail.nesc.wvu.edu, or fax to (304) 293-3161. If you have questions, our technical staff is available to help you with your water and wastewater needs.

Link to site: New Orleans is dumping 26.1 million gallons of raw sewage into the Mississippi River every day,

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- The sewage is not processed as it is collected from toilets and drains
- river water is sucked up and treated to become drinking water.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted a six-month variance to allow the city to dump sewage into the river

MARK BALLARD, mballard@theadvocate.com Capitol news bureau
New Orleans is dumping 26.1 million gallons of raw sewage into the Mississippi River every day, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The sewage is not processed as it is collected from toilets and drains. But it is diluted with water before flowing into the river, DEQ Secretary Mike McDaniel said. His staff is monitoring the Mississippi River water and testing the intake valves at Belle Chasse, where river water is sucked up and treated to become drinking water. McDaniel said no dangerous levels of toxins have been found.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted a six-month variance to allow the city to dump sewage into the river because Hurricane Katrina knocked out the sewer system. "We are not able to treat sewage. Our treatment plant was decimated," New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said. But as early as next week, he said, two motors could be repaired that would allow for at least some treatment of the sewage. The motors that feed the sewage into the water-treatment plant were flooded with 12 feet of water.

The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans announced Friday that the motors could be repaired as early as next week. Though much of the treatment plant is still inoperable, the hope is that initial processing, such as emulsifying and diluting solids, could be done before the waste is dumped into the river.

The city's sanitary sewer system consists of 1,450 miles pipes ranging in size from 8 inches to 7 feet in diameter. Sewage is lifted and moved by 82 pumping stations throughout the city.

Sewage Pumping Station A is collecting discharge from three smaller stations that gather effluvium from the city's Central Business District, the French Quarter and Uptown neighborhoods. Usually Station A feeds sewage collected from the city into a treatment plant. For the past week, it has been moving raw, unprocessed waste directly into the river near the French Quarter.

Harold Leggett, DEQ's assistant secretary for environmental compliance, said the six other treatment facilities were flooded and require at least four months to repair motors and electrical systems, he said.

"I think probably six months is a more accurate estimate," Leggett said.

About 60,000 people have returned to the Uptown area alone, said state Sen. Derrick Shepherd, D-Marrero, who questioned McDaniel at a legislative committee hearing on environmental issues raised by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The units that serve the neighborhoods of Gentilly, Lakeview and New Orleans East are not repaired and cannot be linked to the A pumping station. No sewer service is available for those parts of the city, so residents cannot flush toilets there.

Link to site: Katrina-churned toxic tar balls, poisonous pollutants and debris washing ashore Brevard County beaches appear unfounded.

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- protruding pollution plume appears to have largely dissipated.
- There was no strong signature from the satellite indicating algae blooms and such
- eyeing a mass of nutrient-rich water swirling around an eddy about 80 miles offshore from the Texas-Louisiana border.

RICK NEALE, FLORIDA TODAY rneale@flatoday.net
INDIAN HARBOUR BEACH - So far, sickening scenarios of Hurricane Katrina-churned toxic tar balls, poisonous pollutants and debris washing ashore Brevard County beaches appear unfounded.
Scientists worried last week that a tendril of contaminated water, measuring 5 to 7 miles across, could sweep eastward from the Gulf of Mexico. This ribbon of sludge could flow north of Cuba and hit the Gulf Stream, turning northward to befoul Florida's eastern coast.

The protruding pollution plume appears to have largely dissipated. "We know that the water went by the Keys and up the east coast of Florida. But the water that went up there had been significantly diluted from what was there before," said Mitchell Roffer, founder of Roffer's Ocean Fish Forecasting Service.

"There was no strong signature from the satellite indicating algae blooms and such," he said. The Miami oceanographic firm uses satellite imagery, water sampling and fishermen's reports to track the movements of Katrina runoff in the Gulf of Mexico. It appears coastal damages could be confined to areas west of the Panhandle.

More specifically, Roffer is eyeing a mass of nutrient-rich water swirling around an eddy about 80 miles offshore from the Texas-Louisiana border. According to a report received Sunday by ROFFS, beaches along South Padre Island in Texas received an unwelcome batch of waterborne hurricane junk.

"They said they found a bunch of lumber, refrigerators, propane gas canisters, staircases, a boat and a bunch of other debris," said Greg Gawlikowski, satellite image analyst.

Amid the Texas wreckage, Gawlikowski said, was a ring buoy from a boat in Grand Isle, La. -- a 750-mile drive up the coast.

Satellite images notwithstanding, Melbourne Beach resident Tim McGlen believes Katrina debris could be reaching Brevard. He became suspicious Sunday about four miles south of Ocean Avenue.

"The plastic, in addition to all the other stuff, was predominantly water bottle caps -- hundreds of them. Where'd they come from?" McGlen asked. "All the bottled water they've been drinking down there."

McGlen also found six hypodermic needles.

Monday morning, Indialantic resident Pam Lee visited Paradise Beach with her 12-year-old granddaughter, Katelyn Doyle of Kansas City, Mo. Lee noticed increased beach debris over the weekend, but attributed it to the pounding waves.

"We've been out here the last three days, and I haven't seen any poop or anything like we were supposed to," Lee said. "There's been a lot of stuff (on the beach), but the surf's been really rough."

About 100 yards to the south, Howard Heidel of Indialantic fished for pompano. He said he hopes Katrina contaminants stay far from Brevard.

"As far as fishing goes, I'm just out here to relax and have a good time. Catching fish is secondary," Heidel said.

Contact Neale at 242-3638 or rneale@flatoday.net

Link to site: One of the most critically needed supplies on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina was safe drinking water.

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- Jim Thebaut's Running Dry argues that a shortage of water -- not oil -- looms as the next major crisis.
- The earth's 6 billion people are living on 1 percent of the earth's water.
- ou can't look at poverty without the water crisis, the ecological crisis

BY GEORGIA TASKER, gtasker@herald.com, The Miami Herald,10/17/05
One of the most critically needed supplies on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina was safe drinking water.

Imagine, then, that 1.5 billion people worldwide are facing that same need on a daily basis, not just following a natural disaster. Every day, 14,000 people, 9,000 of them children, die because of lack of water or disease from water pollution. Every 15 seconds a child dies from diarrhea caused by contaminated water.

A powerful 90-minute video called Running Dry by Jim Thebaut documents at this ''global humanitarian crisis'' of staggering proportions. It will be shown Tuesday at the University of Miami.
Jim Thebaut's Running Dry argues that a shortage of water -- not oil -- looms as the next major crisis.

Narrated by actress Jane Seymour, the documentary looks at South Asia, China, India, Africa and even the southwestern United States, where droughts and development are expanding deserts, draining wells and rivers.

The earth's 6 billion people are living on 1 percent of the earth's water. The remainder of the planet's water is saltwater or locked up in icebergs. As human numbers have exploded, water -- not oil -- looms as the most endangered of life-supports.

Thebaut will lead a discussion after the screening of his film, which predicts that in another 15 years, 76 million people could die from polluted water. Born in Berkeley, Calif., Thebaut has degrees in landscape architecture and worked for years as an environmental consultant. His first films were about toxic waste and the importance of landscape planning. Then he read the book Tapping Out by the late Sen. Paul Simon, contacted the Wisconsin senator and launched into the water project.

The United Nations's millennium campaign to reduce poverty and child mortality, called No Excuse 2015, means ''you can't look at poverty without the water crisis, the ecological crisis,'' Thebaut said in a phone interview from the Netherlands last week. ``Our goal is to educate the world to the crisis.''

Many people see the film and 'come up to me and say `I had no idea this was going on,' '' he said.

His immediate goal is to motivate people to change their behavior ''and to look at water as the precious commodity it is,'' he said, ``so that in our personal lives we start to implement conservation programs.''

In the United States, where clean water is taken for granted, a water crisis looms because of overuse and misuse. In the desert city of Las Vegas, for instance, 5,000 new residences are being built every month. Swimming pools and irrigated lawns may become artifacts of a profligate way of life.

South Floridians use an average of 170 gallons every day, far above the national average of 100 gallons per capita. Even the national average is 15 times that available to people in developing countries.

More than a decade ago, the South Florida Water Management District began promoting water conservation through landscape irrigation regulations, reduced-water shower heads and toilets, water conserving landscaping. The aquifer that provides drinking water also provides agricultural water and the Everglades ecosystem water. As people move into the state, competition for that water increases. This year, the state legislature has given the water management district funding to look at alternative water supplies.

For developing countries, even contaminated water is useful. In India, only a third of the 6 million residents get water delivered daily. The rest receive allotments every other day. In South Asia, with one-fifth of the world's population and half of the world's poor, 337 million people are without safe water and 830 million people are without rudimentary sanitation. Sewage runs freely in ditches and rivers.

During the 1950s, the former Soviet Union drained water for cotton crops from the Aral Sea, once the world's fourth largest inland sea. Now half its original size, the Aral counts 24 species of its fish extinct.

In the Shaanxi Province of China, home of Xian and the famous underground terra cotta army, tens of thousands of people are affected by a water-borne disease that results in bowed legs, disfigurement and discolored teeth.

Running Dry is being shown around the country as an educational film sponsored by The Chronicles Group, a nonprofit organization. UM's Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy is sponsoring the Cosford Cinema showing. The film was funded by the American Water Co.

Link to site: assessment of the water quality of the Katrina floodwaters, is good news for those who’ve been exposed directly to the floodwaters

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- LSU researchers caution that the same floodwaters that were pumped back into Lake Pontchartrain contain high levels of some toxic metals, especially copper and zinc, and could pose a long-term danger to the area’s aquatic life
- 38 floodwater samples from widespread sections of New Orleans, primarily in the area of the city known as the "East Bank," where the main human contact with the floodwaters occurred. The samples, which included both surface waters and bottom samples, were taken within five to nine days after flooding occurred. Additional samples were also obtained from the 17th Street drainage canal, after pumping of the floodwater began, to evaluate the flood’s impact on Lake Pontchartrain, the receiving body for the pumped floodwaters.
- found high levels of bacteria, most likely from fecal contamination resulting from sewage. Levels were within the range of typical storm water runoff in the city, the scientists said. They also detected high levels of lead, arsenic and chromium and noted that levels of these toxic metals were also similar to those typically found in the area’s storm water. In general, these particular findings were similar to those obtained by the Environmental Protection Agency in their initial assessment
- Gasoline was also a significant component of the floodwaters, as measured by elevated levels of three of its components: benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene.
- Compounds found in common household chemicals were also detected in the floodwaters, Pardue said. The waters contained chemical compounds from aerosol paints, insecticides, caulking compounds, rubber adhesives and other common substances, but at levels that typically do not create concern for human health.
- While serious toxicity to human life was largely avoided, the floodwater may pose a chemical risk to aquatic life in the area,


The American Chemical Society    October 14, 2005
The floodwaters that inundated New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina were similar in content to the city’s normal storm water and were not as toxic as previously thought, according to a study by researchers at Louisiana State University. Their study, the first peer-reviewed scientific assessment of the water quality of the Katrina floodwaters, is good news for those who’ve been exposed directly to the floodwaters, the scientists said.

But the LSU researchers caution that the same floodwaters that were pumped back into Lake Pontchartrain contain high levels of some toxic metals, especially copper and zinc, and could pose a long-term danger to the area’s aquatic life, which are more sensitive to the metals than humans. Their findings appeared in the Oct. 11 online issue of the American Chemical Society’s journal Environmental Science & Technology.

"What we had in New Orleans was basically a year’s worth of storm water flowing through the city in only a few days," said study leader John Pardue, Ph.D., an environmental engineer and director of the Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute at LSU in Baton Rouge. "We still don’t think the floodwaters were safe, but it could have been a lot worse. It was not the chemical catastrophe some had expected."

Some experts had predicted that the floodwaters from Katrina could potentially destroy chemical plants and refineries in the area, releasing a deadly brew containing toxic levels of benzene, hydrochloric acid and chlorine. Instead, high levels of bacteria and viruses were the biggest human threat, not exposure to chemicals, Pardue and his associates said.

The researchers obtained 38 floodwater samples from widespread sections of New Orleans, primarily in the area of the city known as the "East Bank," where the main human contact with the floodwaters occurred. The samples, which included both surface waters and bottom samples, were taken within five to nine days after flooding occurred. Additional samples were also obtained from the 17th Street drainage canal, after pumping of the floodwater began, to evaluate the flood’s impact on Lake Pontchartrain, the receiving body for the pumped floodwaters.

The researchers found high levels of bacteria, most likely from fecal contamination resulting from sewage. Levels were within the range of typical storm water runoff in the city, the scientists said. They also detected high levels of lead, arsenic and chromium and noted that levels of these toxic metals were also similar to those typically found in the area’s storm water. In general, these particular findings were similar to those obtained by the Environmental Protection Agency in their initial assessment of the floodwaters, the researchers said.

Gasoline was also a significant component of the floodwaters, as measured by elevated levels of three of its components: benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene. These compounds were somewhat elevated in comparison to typical storm water runoff, the researchers said. The chemicals most likely came from cars and storage tanks submerged in the floodwaters, they added.

Compounds found in common household chemicals were also detected in the floodwaters, Pardue said. The waters contained chemical compounds from aerosol paints, insecticides, caulking compounds, rubber adhesives and other common substances, but at levels that typically do not create concern for human health.

If the floodwaters had occurred in another location near more industrial sites in the city and if the wind damage or water surge had been more severe, then the resultant floodwaters could have been a more serious toxic threat, Pardue said. "Instead, the city filled slowly, like a bathtub, and the water velocities and forces on the buildings, including chemical storage facilities, were relatively benign." The large volume of floodwater also diluted the potency of many of the chemicals, he added.

While serious toxicity to human life was largely avoided, the floodwater may pose a chemical risk to aquatic life in the area, Pardue said. He believes that low oxygen levels in the water that is being pumped back into Lake Pontchartrain could result in fish kills. He also said that heavy metals being discharged into the lake, particularly copper and zinc, can be toxic to fish and other marine life and may bioaccumulate and contaminate seafood collected from the region. More studies are needed to assess the long-term impact of the flood on aquatic life, Pardue said.

Funding for this study was provided by the Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute and the LSU Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes

Link to site: The 30-foot-wide 17th Street Canal, the scene changes from one of bustling streets lined with populated restaurants and gas stations displaying "help wanted" signs, to one of deserted, water-logged houses, cars and scattered motor boats washed up on dead lawns.

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- water was declared drinkable last Thursday with the exception of the Lower 9th Ward and New Orleans East,
- categorized coliform as an indicator organism for other potential dangers, such as E. coli and other fecal associated bacteria and viruses. He said samples have been taken two to four times a week and have totaled several hundred since the hurricane.

The Daily Texan, Naomi King 10/12/2005
Driving across the Jefferson-Orleans parish border from west to east on Veterans Boulevard, over the 30-foot-wide 17th Street Canal, the scene changes from one of bustling streets lined with populated restaurants and gas stations displaying "help wanted" signs, to one of deserted, water-logged houses, cars and scattered motor boats washed up on dead lawns.

Art Depodesta, co-owner at Cooter Brown's Tavern & Oyster Bar in Uptown New Orleans, which is south of the canal, said he's frustrated with how Jefferson seems to have more resources at their disposal compared to Orleans Parish.

Although electricity is still out for 47 percent of customers in Orleans Parish as of Monday, water was declared drinkable last Thursday with the exception of the Lower 9th Ward and New Orleans East, according to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals's Office of Public Health. C.J. Guenzel, a resident of Uptown New Orleans who returned to the city this past weekend, said he ran the water for 15 minutes before taking a shower. He said he didn't notice any unusual smells or coloring, but he still avoided drinking it.

Meanwhile, Jefferson Parish, located immediately west of Orleans Parish, has had potable water for about four weeks, said Wayne Kolfskey, a scientist for the Jefferson Parish Water Department.

"I can estimate, the boil order on the West Bank [of Jefferson Parish], which had a lot less damage, was lifted on Sept. 8," said Kolfskey, adding that a coliform, or bacterial, sampling for that area took place. "The East Bank [of Jefferson Parish] took another week."

In Metairie, Jefferson Parish, the Italian Pie pizzeria on Veterans Boulevard opened on Oct. 4 and currently serves water from the faucet. A sister Italian Pie on South Rampart Street in the central business district opened yesterday, but Katy Chan, an employee of the pizzeria, said they will serve bottled water to customers.

The 17th Street Canal levee system that divides the two parishes broke on the Orleans side, causing flood waters to rapidly rise in the city the day after Hurricane Katrina pummeled the region. And because of this levee break, the main difference in the reestablishment of drinking water is that New Orleans started off in a much worse situation than Jefferson, said Doug Vincent, chief engineer for the state's Office of Public Health.

"If [the levee break] had been on the other side, the tables would have been turned," Vincent said. "They may be adjacent, but they're distinctly different."

In addition to being an older system than Jefferson's, the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board's pipes sustained more leaks and breaks and had more flooding of pipes and facilities, Vincent said. Even vehicles and equipment normally used to assess leaks and take samples were incapacitated by flood damage.

"It's only been recently that they've been able to get in and assess damage," Vincent said.

Around the second week in September, the Sewerage and Water Board's water treatment plants began pumping water through the system, Vincent said. As this began, the certified laboratory also began assessing the water system's pressure, chlorine levels, and sample results from coliform analysis. Vincent categorized coliform as an indicator organism for other potential dangers, such as E. coli and other fecal associated bacteria and viruses. He said samples have been taken two to four times a week and have totaled several hundred since the hurricane.

Link to site: easy to see what led to the catastrophe Hurricane Katrina wrought on New Orleans

Return to: watercenter.org sciencefaircenter.com watercenter.net

Highlights:
- New Orleans should not be rebuilt in its present location -- a lowland bowl situated between a lake and a river channel where this largest of America's rivers forms its delta
- what can be done in rebuilding New Orleans to make it a better, more sustainable place?
- the following ten-point plan for moving this dialog ahead

Alex Wilson, October 2005
It is easy to see what led to the catastrophe Hurricane Katrina wrought on New Orleans: a city of a half-million people at an average elevation of six feet (2 m) below sea level; wetlands that have been disappearing for decades for lack of replacement silt from the Mississippi River's annual flooding; a city that has been sinking as its silt soils compress; levees that are designed to withstand only Category 3 hurricanes in an age when global climate change appears to be spawning more catastrophic storms; and years of inadequate funding to maintain even the existing Category-3-rated levees that were built to protect the Crescent City.

In the aftermath of the devastating late-August storm, as rescue teams search for survivors and carry out the grim task of recovering the dead, discussion is well underway about what to do next in heavily damaged New Orleans -- and nearby cities including Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi. New Orleans is the first large American city to be devastated by a catastrophic event since a mammoth earthquake and subsequent fires destroyed much of San Francisco in 1906, leaving three-quarters of its population homeless, and before that the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 destroyed a third of that city. From the San Francisco earthquake we learned to build structures that were more earthquake-resistant, and we instituted seismic building codes. From Chicago's fire we learned to replace wood-frame structures with masonry and steel, and we instituted rigorous fire codes. What will Katrina teach us?

In many respects, New Orleans should not be rebuilt in its present location -- a lowland bowl situated between a lake and a river channel where this largest of America's rivers forms its delta. There are very good reasons for accepting the reality that the combination of subsiding land, rising sea levels, and the effect of shipping channels in funneling storm surges into New Orleans makes long-term survival of the city either very doubtful or highly expensive. Serious consideration should be given to the idea of relocating the city to stable land, either somewhat inland from the coast or farther from the delta where it can be better protected. But there’s almost no chance of that happening. New Orleans will be rebuilt where it is. Our nation has learned a lot in its 200-plus years, but we’re neither that smart nor that bold.

So what can be done in rebuilding New Orleans to make it a better, more sustainable place? A great deal. The opportunities are exceeded only by the creativity that exists in the sustainable design community today. We have an opportunity with New Orleans to put into practice -- in a far-reaching and highly visible manner -- a vision infused by the collective wisdom of the green building movement. If common sense, intelligence, and forethought can prevail in the ensuing debates about the future of this great city, we will end up with a model that can be emulated around the world. Our nation can rebound from the shame of our hapless response to Katrina by demonstrating to the world a commitment to sustainable development.

In this spirit, we offer the following ten-point plan for moving this dialog ahead. These suggestions are directed specifically at New Orleans, though many of the ideas apply as well to other coastal areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

1. Institute a Sustainable New Orleans planning task force. This task force should be comprised of 20 to 30 of the best minds in sustainable development, urban planning, and green building, along with at least an equal number of community leaders of New Orleans and the surrounding region. Participation and buy-in by residents is critical to the long-term success of any sustainability initiative in a city or region, and that seems particularly the case in New Orleans, where too many have been disenfranchised for too long. This planning process should generate neighborhood, community, city, and regional plans that address such issues as housing, employment, government, transit, open space, healthcare, education, water, sewer, energy, and telecommunications. This task force should be funded at a level that will permit these outside visionaries and local participants to take leave of many of their other responsibilities for an intensive six- to twelve-month period, and the initiative should be enriched with the best support staff of computer modelers, ecologists, geologists, building scientists, and engineers that money can buy. This task force should be established as quickly as possible.

2. Pursue coastal and floodplain restoration as the number-one priority in rebuilding New Orleans. As has been widely reported, it doesn’t make economic sense to invest in rebuilding New Orleans without also addressing the underlying hydrologic problems that will continue to threaten this area. Sediment deposition needs to be restored in the Mississippi River Delta, both to replenish wetlands in the delta that are being lost to erosion and to counteract the subsidence of land that is occurring in the region. We need to harness nature’s restorative powers to support human efforts to create a habitable coastal zone -- rather than continuing to work in opposition to the forces of nature.

3. Immediately establish Sustainable New Orleans enterprise-zone businesses to salvage and warehouse building materials from the destruction of New Orleans. The materials so salvaged should be cleaned and used in the rebuilding of the city. These businesses should be cooperatively owned by the people of New Orleans and should provide employment to those in the city who most need it -- in the process, establishing models for the sorts of businesses that can ultimately build a vibrant, strong economy for New Orleans. Such start-up businesses can empower residents and help them emerge from the cycle of poverty and hardship that have for too long afflicted the city. Organized deconstruction of the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of buildings that are deemed unlivable should be undertaken. Temporary housing, food, and infrastructure will be needed to support this enterprise; the housing can start as tent barracks if necessary. If we can provide mobile living quarters and infrastructure for 150,000 ground troops in Iraq 8,000 miles (13,000 km) away, we should be able to do the same in Louisiana, an hour’s flight from Atlanta.

4. Rebuild a levee system around the city that the water engineers of Holland will envy. The levees should incorporate redundancy and be designed to fully withstand a Category 5 hurricane and a storm surge exceeding that predicted by the most extreme computer models. Where possible, the levee system should be integrated into a perimeter park for the city that combines protective functions with recreational amenities that will help New Orleans lure its dispersed residents back to the city and attract the new companies and employment that the city so desperately needs to sustain itself in the long term.

5. Create Sustainable New Orleans overlay zoning for the city to ensure that the goals of sustainability, safety, and urban vitality will be followed in the city’s redevelopment. This zoning code should emerge from the comprehensive planning process outlined in the first recommendation. It should provide for mixed uses (retail, commercial, and residential) in urban cores, public transportation, bicycle and pedestrian pathways, high levels of energy efficiency, reliance on natural cooling strategies and solar power systems in buildings that can maintain comfort and provide critical electricity during power outages, and durable building systems based on a platform of building science. While there is an urgency to move ahead with the rebuilding of New Orleans, doing it right -- in a way that will maintain and strengthen the character of the city -- is paramount. The end result should not be a gentrified New Orleans, but a better, more sustainable version of the old New Orleans -- a city that supports all segments of its society while protecting its environment and ensuring its long-term future.

6. Retain and restore those buildings that can be salvaged. Due to damage from contaminated water, extensive measures will be required to deal with mold. Gut-rehab will be required for many of the estimated 80% of the city’s 200,000 homes that have been damaged and, of course, many homes will not be salvageable. Building codes should address resistance to non-catastrophic flood damage -- for example, the most flood-prone lower floors of houses should have no paper-faced drywall, no ductwork, no air handlers, no wall-to-wall carpeting, and no electrical service boxes. Retaining the character of New Orleans, which is defined in part by its vernacular architecture and its diversity, should be a high priority.

7. Mandate or incentivize green building. Along with ensuring that certain minimum practices are followed in the rebuilding of New Orleans, the city, state, and federal government, as well as insurance companies and banks, should require, or offer incentives to encourage the implementation of, more comprehensive green building practices. Tax credits, zero-interest loans, density bonuses, grants to support the greenest redevelopment efforts, and other incentives should be offered to the people and businesses of New Orleans to support this greener vision of the city. Affordable housing should be built at least to the Enterprise Foundation Green Communities standards. Public buildings should be required to achieve LEED Gold standards. The U.S. Green Building Council should encourage green construction by waiving or discounting the registration and certification fees for all private building projects going through LEED certification -- discussions about doing this are already underway.

8. Work with ecologists and fisheries biologists to create more sustainable fisheries for the Gulf Coast. The Louisiana coast produces more seafood than any U.S. location outside of Alaska; as elsewhere, these fisheries are in decline. The terrible pollution that resulted from Katrina’s floodwaters will doubtless further damage these fisheries -- and likely extend the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone, which currently covers about 7,000 square miles (18,000 km2) -- an area about the size of New Jersey. This issue must be addressed if the culture of New Orleans is to survive.

9. Clean up the new brownfields of New Orleans. Pollutant-laden sediment and all manner of toxins will greet the city once it is drained of its floodwater. The most ecologically responsible means should be used to detoxify New Orleans, and an ongoing testing program should be implemented to ensure that New Orleans’s water is safe to drink, its playgrounds are safe to play on, and its seafood is safe to eat. Indeed, this is an opportunity to put into practice, on a large scale, such leading-edge practices as bioremediation, phytoremediation, and ecological restoration.

10. Work with industry to clean up the factories along the Gulf Coast. There need not be a "Cancer Alley" along the Gulf Coast, but it will take a concerted effort by industry, environmentalists, and regulators -- and a lot of money -- to bring about the necessary change. In creating a sustainable economy and ensuring that residents can live healthy lives, however, this blight simply has to be addressed. Let’s learn from the toxic sludge and silt left by Katrina and create industrial processes that will not leave a toxic legacy for our children and grandchildren. The long-term plan for industry along the Gulf Coast should address both a reduction of toxics and opportunities for synergies in material and resource flows -- concepts of industrial ecology.

These are not easy tasks. Most involve hard, concerted effort and huge financial outlays. But these measures -- and others that would doubtless emerge through the process laid out here -- are critically important if New Orleans and the surrounding environs are to emerge from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in better shape than before. New Orleans can emerge as a model for sustainable development, charting a course that other cities around the country and world can follow. Let's not look back at the rebuilding of New Orleans as a lost opportunity; let's work together for a future that the city -- and all of America -- can be proud of.