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Jurisdiction



Martin Hogue
University of Toronto, 2009

Problem
The 17th Street Canal, whose breach flooded large areas of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, marks the dividing line between Orleans Parish and Jefferson Parish. It receives flow from both parishes, but it is drained only by Orleans Parish pumps. The system's jurisdiction is shared among the two parishes, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Orleans Parish Sewerage and Water Board. This fragmented administration is inefficient and opaque. The canal functions only as a drainage feature, isolated from the city and from its constituents.

Proposal
The project creates an emergency spillway from the 17th Street Canal to Jefferson Parish, where sophisticated pumps have greater capacity than those in Orleans Parish. During normal conditions, the spillway functions as a public amphitheatre. The canal's capacity is increased, and ts levee is modified to allow inhabitation and public uses.