Sponsored: SWBNO invests in upgraded grey and green infrastructure to prepare for active hurricane season

With an active hurricane season forecasted for 2024, preparation for heavy rain, flooding, and power outages is a priority for the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO). Infrastructure investments and proactive planning are underway to ensure drainage and pumping systems are best equipped to handle the challenges the city could face this season.

“The best way to describe how we look at things is that every day is a preparation day,” said Ghassan Korban, SWBNO Executive Director. “We are always preparing not only for named storms but also for unnamed events that could bring heavy rainfall.”

As New Orleans residents already know, heavy rain and storm events occur outside of hurricane season and have the potential to cause flooding. Climate change has posed additional challenges with storms becoming both stronger and more frequent in the Gulf Coast region.

“Every city’s system has a threshold. They’re designed to manage a certain amount of rain per hour, and New Orleans is no different,” said Korban. “If rainfall totals exceed our capacity of one inch per hour (and half an inch for every hour after that) we may experience street flooding as a result.”

The drainage system of New Orleans is unique in that it is a mechanical system which does not solely rely on pipes and gravity. The two other components of power generation and pumping equipment are critical to combat flooding during intense storm and rain events.

However, aging mechanical parts are susceptible to failure which can impact drainage. Maintenance, redundancy within the system, consistent training of SWBNO employees, and proactive anticipation of issues are key to ensuring the hundreds of pieces of equipment across the system are in working order. The minor drainage system, currently managed by DPW, includes catch basins and smaller pipes and is another critical component of the city’s drainage ability and has needed additional service and attention for many years.

“For the last several decades, the minor drainage system has been – and remains – inadequately funded. The upcoming shift of responsibility to SWBNO is bringing to light the needed funding to improve the level of service,” said Korban. Once the minor drainage system is under the management of the SWBNO, Korban plans to implement cyclical maintenance and needed investments in the system.

City residents are encouraged to continue to call 311 to report issues with catch basins until funding and consolidation is complete. The logistics of the consolidation, coupled with identifying resources and funding to support the shift from the Department of Public Works to the SWBNO are still in progress, and Korban hopes that the process will be completed by late fall of 2024.

SWBNO has also been working on longer-term solutions for reliable, cost-effective, and more sustainable power generation. Historically SWBNO has generated its own power to support older pumps that use 25 Hz power as opposed to the 60 Hz power that local power company Entergy provides. However, a modern and more efficient system is needed and in the works.

SWBNO’s new power complex is projected to be completed by the 2025 hurricane season and will provide the utility with a dedicated substation to draw power from Entergy’s transmission lines as well as additional frequency changers that will convert power to the 25 Hz that the pumps can use. At the same time, SWBNO is building newer and more modern turbines to back up the new power complex in the event of an outage. This back-up self-generation system will be key when power is not available from Entergy, such as during the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.

“The actual power generation with this new system will significantly reduce our greenhouse emissions,” said Korban. “The old method was to use gas or diesel to boil water in order to make the turbines spin with steam. This will go away with the new complex.”

Green infrastructure is another long-term solution that Korban believes should be a priority for the future of New Orleans. Though reliance on grey infrastructure, or engineered systems, is necessary, green infrastructure can alleviate pressure on the pumps.

“Stormwater management is time management,” said Korban. “Green infrastructure solutions allow us to take on those intense rains and hold water temporarily in large retaining areas to give the grey infrastructure time to catch up. Once the storm subsides, we can pump out that extra water.”

SWBNO has built 10 green infrastructure demonstration sites across New Orleans where native plants, rain gardens, permeable pavement, green and blue roofs, and other environmentally friendly methods are used to slow down or hold water. New Orleans residents can invest in rain barrels and gardens on their own properties as well to collectively help slow water down in the city.

In the short term, SWBNO has processes in place to respond quickly and effectively to intense storm events. Turbines that are not on during dry weather days are activated during what the utility calls “rain load,” and canal water levels are pumped down to create more capacity. Operators are dispatched to all pumping stations in the hours before an event to ensure equipment and water levels are monitored closely.

“We also communicate continuously with outside partners such as NOLA Ready, the Department of Public Works, and our counterparts at Entergy,” said Korban. “We make sure we communicate what our concerns and specific needs are in case of an outage where we will need power.”

The utility now has a public Pumping and Power Dashboard that shows which pumping stations are operating in real-time as well as a status of the 25 Hz power assets that are available.

To learn more about hurricane preparedness and SWBNO’s ongoing infrastructure projects, visit www.swbno.org or watch the SWBNO Waterside Chat with Ghassan Korban and Margaret Orr on the NOLA.com YouTube channel.