New Levee Inspection Documentation

According to the Times-Picayune, special levee inspection training courses for district employees will begin this year. From animal burrows in the levees to sinking scour protection along the floodwalls, regulations now require that all deviations be put in writing, photographed, signed by levee district leaders and distributed to state and federal authorities.

First Question: What were the previous requirements for inspecting the levees?

Today the districts are using standardized forms and the inspections are being done, at least within the hurricane protection system, by personnel who have successfully completed the state training course, which included passing four written tests.

Second Question: How is the hurricane protection system determined?

"It won't make the system fail in and of itself," Ardoin said of the deficiencies, "but we want everything documented.

"You may have 20 to 30 to 40 pages in every report, depending on the number of miles," he said. And all those reports, along with any "remedial action" reports documenting repairs, must be signed by the district's chief executive and board president before being submitted to the Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Transportation and Development, or DOTD.

The DOTD was reorganized after Katrina to invest its Water Resources Division with a much greater role in levee safety and hurricane flood protection.

Ardiron said his department is working toward developing an online interactive map that will allow the public to see recent inspection reports for every mile of levees and floodwalls.

Third Question: Will this online interactive map be developed prior to the hurricane system?