Since January 2017, 23,337 catch basins have been cleaned across the city of New Orleans. Following the major flooding in August of last year, the Department of Public Works prioritized catch basin cleaning by reassigning its in-house crews to that effort, by urging the Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development (LaDOTD) to clean catch basins on state thoroughfares, and by spending $22M on the emergency catch basin cleaning and repair programs.
The City’s contractor, Compliance Envirosystems (CES), began the $7M emergency catch basin cleaning program on September 26,, 2017 and finished on January 23, 2018. The goal for the program was to clean 15,000 catch basins in 120 days. There were 16-22 VAC trucks working six days a week across all neighborhoods in New Orleans to complete this work. Crews removed more than 7.2 million pounds of debris from catch basins, 93,000 pounds of which were Mardi Gras beads. The Department set a goal of hiring 61 percent local workers initially and exceeded that goal by hiring 59 percent local workers for the program.
On October 9, 2017, 17 crews began the emergency catch basin repair program. Currently, 25 catch basin repair crews are assigned to neighborhoods across the city (Bayou St. John, Bywater, City Park, Dillard, Fairgrounds, Filmore, Florida Area, French Quarter, Lake Terrace, Lakeview, Mid-City, Navarre and St. Claude) five days a week. Since the beginning of the eight-month repair program, 2,156 catch basins have been repaired.
Additionally, crews are addressing drain point repairs across the city through Hurricane Isaac and other funding sources. There were more than 460 cases of flooding issues reported to 311, of which 109 were determined to be in need of drain point repairs. Work has already begun on the 109 repairs that are part of this contract.
Maintaining full transparency continues to be priority for this program. To that end, the City’s catch basin reporting portal allows for live monitoring of catch basin assessments, cleaning and repairs. While the City continues to unclog and repair drains, it is equally important for residents to keep catch basins clear of trash and debris to prevent further issues. To help improve drainage conditions in your neighborhood, check out our Adopt A Catch Basin website.