Faubourg St. John has been asking its residents to “clean their drain” for several years. The City of New Orleans is following our lead and will be instituting a “Catch the Basin” campaign city-wide over the next few days. Below are links to Faubourg St. John’s reminders just in 2011…
Feb 28, 2011: https://fsjna.org/2011/02/use-your-brain-clean-your-drain/
Sep 1, 2011:https://fsjna.org/2011/09/do-you-enjoy-flood-water-in-your-home/
Dec 22 2011: https://fsjna.org/2011/12/santa-says-clean-your-drain/
THE CITY IS ASKING THAT YOU CALL 311 FOR
CATCH BASINS THAT NEED MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT TO CLEAR
If you have questions, or if your catch basin requires mechanical cleaning or maintenance, call 311 to report the problem.
Catch_The_Basin
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP:
1) Clean litter and debris from the catch basins near your house. Also, clean the surrounding curb area, because any litter, leaves, or grass on the street or sidewalk can end up in the catch basin. Do not lift the drain cover or attempt to disassemble the catch basin; just clean what you can see. All you need is a pair of work gloves, a shovel or small rake, and a trash bag. Remember: If your neighbor is elderly or disabled, please help clean their catch basin too.
2) Dispose of trash and lawn clippings in trash cans. Do not sweep or blow yard waste into the gutters and catch basins. Remember: Trash in our streets ends up as trash in our lake!
3) Construction sites or sites with hazardous materials must take special precautions to properly dispose of their paint and chemicals. They should not sweep, blow or hose waste into the catch basins. Report any improper actions to the City of New Orleans by calling 311.
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“Thought you would like to know that our front yard did beautifully yesterday!” This message brought to you by the owners of the Broadmoor house that used to get 8″ in their front yard after a hard rain who participated in the #FrontYardInitiative.
The driveway on the left and bioswale on the right now capture and slow water from entering the city’s system. Photo below shows what used to happen after a one-hour 2″ rain (Broadmoor got 5.49″ in a matter of hours on Aug 5.) Evans + Lighter Landscape Architecture Quality Sitework Materials Truegrid Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. Details about the program in the link:
http://www.urbanconservancy.org/project/fyi/
The Front Yard Initiative is the Urban Conservancy’s response to excessive yard paving. Rampant front yard paving is a community issue that has broad and significant effects on the city of New Orleans from stormwater to safety.
Stormwater management in New Orleans has been characterized by regularly overwhelmed drainage systems, excessive paving and pumping that has depleted groundwater levels and led to a sinking city, and urban water assets being wasted while hidden behind walls, underground, or pumped into the river and lake. All of these issues and the failure of traditional infrastructure (levees, pipes and pumps) to protect the city from Hurricane Katrina, continuous flooding, and subsidence has led to a shift in mindset regarding the most effective and thoughtful way to manage stormwater in South Louisiana. It is clear that the single-minded approach of rushing stromwater over pavement, into pipes and pumping it out of the city needs to be reevaluated.