The flooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina provides many lessons for the environmental and engineering communities and raises serious public policy questions about risk management. A summary of the primary engineering failures that led to the flooding and the consequences of those failures on the city, its people and the environment will be discussed. The emphasis will be on the contamination and waste management issues that resulted from the flooding. The environmental consequences were of concern because of the many chemical plants, petroleum distribution and refining facilities, and contaminated sites, including Superfund sites, in the areas covered by floodwaters. Some 565 oil spills were noted in the wake of Katrina as a result of failures in the petroleum production and refining infrastructure. In addition, hundreds of commercial establishments, such as service stations, pest control businesses, and dry cleaners, use potentially hazardous chemicals that may have been released into the environment by the floodwaters. The potential sources of toxics and environmental contaminants included metal-contaminated soils typical of old urban areas and construction lumber preserved with creosote, pentachlorophenol, and arsenic. Compounding these concerns is the presence of hazardous chemicals commonly stored in households and the fuel and motor oil in approximately 400,000 flooded automobiles. Uncontrolled biological wastes from both human and animal sources also contributed to the pollutant burden in the city. Post-Katrina, we are still struggling with an unprecedented legacy of solid and hazardous wastes. This discussion will focus on successes and failures in responding to each of these concerns as well as lessons learned for future disasters.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
ASCE (2007). The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why? Final Report, External Review Panel.
Ashley, N., K.T. Valsaraj, and L.J. Thibodeaux (2007). Elevated in-home sediment contaminant concentrations—the consequence of a particle settling-winnowing process from Hurricane Katrina floodwaters, submitted to Chemosphere.
DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) (2005). RECAP: Risk Evaluation/Corrective Action Program. Available online at: http://deq.louisiana.gov/portal/tabid/131/Default.aspx.
Dokka, R. (2006). Personal information, Center of Geoinformatics, Louisiana State University.
EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) (2005a). EPA Region 6: Human Health Medium-Specific Screening Levels. Available online at: http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6pd/rcra_c/pd-n/r6screenbackground.pdf
EPA (2005b). Hurricane Response 2005: Environmental Assessment Summary for Areas of Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines Parishes Flooded as a Result of Hurricane Katrina. Available online at: http://www.epa.gov/katrina/testresults/katrina_env_ assessment_summary.htm.
EPA (2005c). Updated EPA Region 6 internet version of Risk-Based Human Health Screening Values. Available online at: http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6pd/rcra_c/pd-n/screen.htm.
EPA (2005d). Summary of Testing at Superfund National Priority List Sites: Agriculture Street Landfill, Orleans Parish, New Orleans, LA. Available online at: http://www.epa.gov/katrina/superfund-summary.html#2.
Gustavsson, N., B. Bølviken, D.B. Smith, and R.C. Severson (2001). Geochemical Landscapes of the Conterminous United States — New Map Presentations for 22 Elements. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1648. Denver, Colo.: U.S. Geological Survey. Available online at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1648/p1648.pdf.
Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (2007). Final Report, https://IPET.wes.army.mil.
Janda, J.M. and P.S. Duffey (1988). Mesophilic aermonads in human disease: current taxonomy, laboratory identification and infectious disease spectrum. Reviews of Infectious Diseases 10(5): 980–997.
Khan, B.I., H.M. Solo-Gabriele, T.G. Townsend, and Y. Cai (2006). Release of Arsenic to the Environment from CCA-Treated Wood. 2. Leaching and Speciation during Disposal. Environmental Science and Technology 40: 994–999.
Mielke, H.W., G. Wang, C.R. Gonzales, E.T. Powell, B. Le, and V.N. Quach (2004). PAHs and metals in the soils of inner-city and suburban New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 18(3): 243–247.
National Research Council, NRC (2006). Committee on New Orleans Regional Hurricane Protection System Reports (I, II, III).
NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) (2005). Geographic Information Systems. Environmental Health Science Data Resource Portal: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Online at: http://cleek.ucsd.edu:8080/gridsphere/gridsphere?cID=gisimages.
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) (2005a). Mold: Health Effects of Mold. Available online at: http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/mold.asp.
NRDC (2005b). New Orleans Environmental Quality Test Results. Available online at: http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/contents.asp.
NRDC (2005c). Sampling Results: Bywater/Marigny Including Agriculture Street Landfill. Available online at: http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/bywater.asp.
Pardue, J.H., W.M. Moe, D. McInis, L.J. Thibodeaux, K.T. Valsaraj, E. Maciasz, I. Van Heerden, N. Korevec, and Q.Z. Yuan (2005). Chemical and microbiological parameters in New Orleans floodwater following hurricane Katrina. Environmental Science and Technology 39(22): 8591–8599.
Pardue, J.H. and H. John (2006). Anticipating Environmental Problems Facing Hurricane Debris Landfills in New Orleans East. Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute White Paper. 14pp.
Pelley, J. (2006). Lead a hazard in post-Katrina sludge. Environmental Science and Technology 40(2): 414–415. Available online at: http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-a/40/i02/ html/011506news3.html.
Presley, S.M., T.R. Rainwater, G.P. Austin, S.G. Platt, J.C. Zak, G.P Cobb, E.J. Marsland, K. Tian, B. Zhang, T.A. Anderson, S.B. Cox, M.T. Abel, B.D. Leftwich, J.R. Huddleston, R.M. Jeter, and R.J. Kendall (2006). Assessment of pathogens and toxicants in New Orleans, LA following Hurricane Katrina. Environmental Science and Technology 40(2): 468–474.
USBR (2003). Guidelines for Achieving Public Protection in Dam Safety Decision Making. Dam Safety Office, United States Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, CO.
WSDA (Washington State Department of Agriculture) (2001). Pesticide Management Database. Olympia, Washington: WSDA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science + Business Media B.V.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Reible, D. (2009). Hurricane Katrina Environmental and Engineering Concerns. In: Illangasekare, T.H., Mahutova, K., Barich, J.J. (eds) Decision Support for Natural Disasters and Intentional Threats to Water Security. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2713-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2713-9_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2712-2
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2713-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)