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Image credit: Conditional Bay, CJ Gassam and Chris Tellone

The funding to execute the program is provided through a $2 million Comprehensive Resiliency Program award from the Louisiana Office of Community Development-Disaster Recovery Unit (OCD-DRU) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to GNO, Inc.

“Many areas in St. Bernard Parish and the east banks of Orleans and Jefferson parishes depend on a large-scale pumping system susceptible to failure even during normal rainfall, resulting in flooding that divides these neighborhoods,” said Paul Rainwater, Louisiana Commissioner of Administration. “Additional threats, such as subsidence and rising sea levels, also contribute to the need for a solution-based approach to an integrated water management strategy that is vital to the continued recovery, growth, and development of the region.”

GNO, Inc. invited experienced, multi-disciplinary teams to submit proposals for this initiative through a competitive bidding process that included a selection committee consisting of parish officials and experts in engineering, planning and design, community engagement, environmental sustainability, and flood protection.

“Due to the geography and topography of the Greater New Orleans region, water management is an important issue for businesses and residents in our area,” said Michael Hecht, President and CEO of GNO, Inc. “Waggonner & Ball has proven experience in research, interpretation and modeling, policy, infrastructure, design, and implementation. We expect the consultant team to produce a valuable and implementable strategy based on international best practices, and we congratulate them for earning this contract.”

The announcement coincides with the 19th annual World Water Day. Held each year on March 22, World Water Day focuses attention on the importance of freshwater and advocates for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The theme for 2011 is “Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge.” The United Nations General Assembly designated March 22, 1993 as the first World Water Day.

“It is critical that the Greater New Orleans region has a comprehensive water management plan that can mitigate risk while enhancing economic opportunities and improving the quality of life for our citizens,” said Senator Mary Landrieu. “We are fortunate to have a dream team in place to do this important work. Waggonner & Ball has extensive expertise in water management gleaned from projects that span the globe, and GNO, Inc. is uniquely positioned to manage the process efficiently.”

“We offer our support to Waggonner & Ball in developing a wide-ranging approach to effective water management and planning in order to protect our precious natural resource,” said Jefferson Parish President John Young. “We are committed to open, transparent and collaborative input and improving the overall quality of life for all our citizens.”

“New Orleans is the most immediate laboratory for innovation in America, so it is appropriate that this initiative will look to the entrepreneurship of our people to find new solutions to systemic water management challenges,” said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “It’s important for our safety and quality of life.”

“Having the proper water management strategy is a critical issue for St. Bernard and beyond,” said St. Bernard Parish President Craig P. Taffaro, Jr. “I look forward to working in cooperation with Waggonner & Ball in any way needed. This initiative will fit very nicely into the parishes’ land-use planning and long-term alternate use concepts of our drainage waterways. Finding ways to use our water ways as assets is a part of changing the approach to water management as a whole for St. Bernard Parish and the metropolitan area.”

With the implementation of the Water Management Strategy, GNO, Inc. has the following goals:

* Reduce flood hazards to people and property
* Use storm water as a resource
* Increase flexibility and adaptive water management capacity
* Enable better ground water management and minimize soil subsidence
* Reduce costs, energy use, and emissions of water management infrastructure
* Protect and improve environmental quality and sustainability, and well being of open water and habitats

An effective Water Management Strategy will also accrue public benefits, increase quality of life, incorporate sustainability and environmental concerns, and provide a platform for economic growth.

“We are honored to be selected to develop a Water Management Strategy for the Greater New Orleans region,” said J. David Waggonner, III, FAIA, Waggonner & Ball President. “The Royal Netherlands Embassy and the American Planning Association have been key partners in our approach, and we look forward to working with our team of local, national, and international collaborators. Water can be New Orleans’ greatest asset, and the Water Management Strategy will provide a process by which to re-imagine our region’s relationship to this fundamental resource.”

Waggonner & Ball is a highly respected architectural and planning firm with 30 years of experience working in the Greater New Orleans region. Waggonner & Ball will be responsible for reporting to GNO, Inc. on the progress of the project through completion. GNO, Inc. will manage the implementation of the grant with the support and guidance of an Advisory Council consisting of representatives from Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Bernard parishes, as well as experts in the fields of water management, design, planning, and community engagement.

“The implementation of this plan seems achievable because it begins where successful plans begin: intervention begins with changing perceptions and attitudes. In addition, while this plan includes some major infrastructural components, many other components can be implemented with modest commitments of capital or even, perhaps, through modest adjustments in maintenance regimens. This plan has great scalability.

Sensitive, thoughtful and creative integration of water management with community planning, sustainable and achievable.”

The Canadian Institute of Planners Climate Change + Communities Conference will bring together
planning professionals from Canada and other countries to address the transnational planning issues of
climate change.
Through presentations and workshops, participants will share their experiences in working in
climate change adaptation programs, develop creative strategies, acquire the tools for action, and learn
how to measure success. This multi-disciplinary, international conference will provide essential
information on the science of climate change as it relates to planning practice.

David Waggonner will participate in a round table discussion called Project Eco-Delta: Design for Coastal Cities at the Venice Biennale 2010. The discussion, initiated by the Van Alen Institute and Environmental Defense Fund, will also include delegates from AECOM, ARO, ARCADIS, and Ove Arup.

“On August 29th, 2010, Van Alen Institute and Environmental Defense Fund will host a roundtable discussion examining the environmental challenges faced by Coastal Cities in the 21st Century. We will convene at the US Pavilion to discuss with leading experts in the fields of design, engineering, and science, the innovative ways they are addressing the needs of fragile deltas and the communities living in them.

Van Alen Institute has been working for the past year on a major design initiative in the Lower Mississippi River Delta with Environmental Defense Fund. This case study will be presented as a starting point for discussion of potential approaches to natural systems restoration, the integration of livable communities and productive landscapes, as well as infrastructure adaptability to the ongoing changes in the region.”

Van Alen Institute is an independent non-profit architectural organization whose mission is to promote inquiry into the processes that shape the design of the public realm.

“The Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) is a non-profit organization that coordinates urban, rural and regional planning efforts in Louisiana. We provide best-practice planning models, innovative policy ideas, and technical assistance to individual communities that wish to create and enact master plans dealing with transportation and infrastructure needs, equitable housing opportunities, environmental issues, and quality design for the built environment.  CPEX brings community members and leaders together and provides guidance as they work toward a shared vision for future growth and development.”

Derek Hoeferlin, Senior Lecturer at the Sam Fox School of Design at Washington University in St. Louis, presented his Gutter to Gulf studio’s related work on water planning created in collaboration with the University of Toronto.

Waggonner will address the idea of Living with Water, including how New Orleans is a “water city that has denied itself” and how the embrace of water in practical and symbolic terms is crucial to sustainable delta urbanism.  Other presenters include New Orleans’s Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, restaurateur John Besh, Tulane President Scott Cowen, and leaders from environmental and cultural advocacy groups in the region.  All presentations will be available online following the event at tedxnola.com.  The event will take place on Friday, August 27th at 9 am.  Additional event and ticket information can be found at the organizer’s website.

David Waggonner shared his expertise on urban water management with planning professionals from around the world at the Shanghai-Rotterdam Water Conference, part of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.  According to the Rotterdam Water City website, “[t]he Shanghai-Rotterdam Water Conference offered an excellent opportunity to share and exchange knowledge and experience. A number of lectures addressed topics such as storm-surge barriers, adaptation strategies, rainwater storage and ecologically sustainable flood management.”  The presentation included ideas developed through the Dutch Dialogues research initiative, which aims to embrace water for new public amenities and improved safety in New Orleans.

For more information:

World Estuary Alliance: http://estuary-alliance.org/

Expo 2010 in Shanghai: http://en.expo2010.cn/