Drainage canals and high capacity pumps
Throughout its urban history, New Orleans has been plagued by an
overabundance of water. Every facet of the city's urban
development has been influenced by this topographical fact. At the
turn of the century, drainage as a refuge from the hazards of too
much water emerged from a highly difficult process of trial and
error. The Sewerage and Water Board was formed in 1899 to address the
problem. Drainage plans were instituted, but the water remained.
The Wood Screw Pump, engineered in 1913 by
Albert Baldwin Wood, effectively revolutionized the urban
geography of a sprawling New Orleans in the early twentieth
century. It enabled a burgeoning city to continue its growth in
defiance of its environmental barriers.
| General: |
End of 1899 |
End of 1925 |
End of 1937 |
| Population |
280,000 |
420,000 |
516,000 |
| Population Area (Acres) |
16,000 |
30,000 |
33,000 |
| Approx. Number of Premises |
67,000 |
103,000 |
125,000 |
| Death Rate: |
| from Malaria (per 100,000 pop.) |
70 |
5 |
2.32 |
| Drainage: |
| Miles of Low Level Canals and Drains |
100 |
560 |
940 |
| Combined Drainage Pumping Capacity |
1,200 |
13,000 |
25,478 |
| Number of Drainage Stations |
7 |
8 |
9 |
| Area Drained in Acres |
13,000 |
40,000 |
50,000 |
PreK - 22 pumping stations could pump 45 thousand cubic feet per
second
out of the city (Orleans only). That is equivalent to just under
1 inch per
hour of rain across the entire 100 square miles (65,000 acres) of
drained land in the city. S&WB claims 90 miles of open
drainage canals and 90 miles of enclosed culverts replacing older sections of canal.
Wood's design has been adopted around the world, notably by the Dutch in their efforts to reclaim the Zuyder Zee.