Since January 2017, 23,091 catch basins have been cleaned across the city of New Orleans. Following the major flooding in August last year, the Department of Public Works prioritized catch basin cleaning by reassigning its in-house crews to that effort, by urging the LADOTD to clean catch basins on state thoroughfares, and by spending $22M on the emergency catch basin cleaning and repair program.
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. More than 6.4 million pounds of debris were removed from catch basins, 93,000 pounds of which were Mardi Gras beads. Sixty-one percent of the workforce on this program were local hires against the initial contractual goal of 35 percent.
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 program, 2,030 catch basins have been repaired.
Additionally, drain point repairs are also being addressed via Hurricane Isaac and other funding sources; work has already begun on the 109 repairs that are part of the 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. Check out our Adopt A Catch Basin website – you too can help to improve drainage conditions as well.