Land Trust for Louisiana: The WEB Project for Broadmoor

For Release: June 19, 2014

Today the Land Trust for Louisiana announced the award of a grant for $82,750.00 in support of a neighborhood project to demonstrate the effectiveness of landscape measures to reduce local flooding.  Responding to a request for proposals issued by the Sewerage and Water Board this spring, LTL assembled a team of technical experts and community leaders to design a project, WEB, for a vacant tract at the corner of General Taylor and North Miro.

The S&WB has recognized the contribution that “Green Infrastructure” (GI) can make to complement the structural system of pumps, pipes and floodwalls in reducing subsidence and the amount of energy required to drain the city regularly. New Orleans presently functions like a “fish bowl” but it would function better as a “colander”, allowing surface water to go back into the ground and reduce the rate of oxidation and land subsidence.

The S&WB Green Infrastructure RFP asked applicants to develop local projects which would demonstrate and test approaches to GI.  LTL’s team includes Evans + Lighter, Landscape Architects & Builders, Trigon Associates providing water quality testing and monitoring and community outreach with the assistance of the Broadmoor Development Corp., Broadmoor Improvement Association and E&E Strategies LLC.

WEB, the “Water Effectiveness in Broadmoor” project incorporates bioswales, rain gardens, cisterns, and strategic tree plantings and landscaping for a state-of-the-art storm water management project. The elements proposed in LTL’s initial design are capable of retaining, detaining, and filtering upwards of 12,000 cubic feet of storm water, thereby having a significant impact on street flooding, which has been a persistent problem in the neighborhood.

“We are excited about this project, not only for the impact it will have on the Broadmoor neighborhood, but also because it will be a model that can be replicated across the city,” said Marisa Escudero, LTL Development Director and lead author for WEB. “ The WEB project will  contribute to improved water quality in Lake Pontchartrain while reducing the rate of land subsidence by allowing water to go where it needs to go…. back into our soil.”

The Land Trust for Louisiana (LTL) is a statewide organization that conserves, protects and preserves undeveloped rural, coastal, and urban land in ways that benefit the community. LTL’s work in New Orleans has focused on protecting undeveloped parcels of land in the city’s neighborhoods because of the important role such land plays in storm water management and flood control.

The project will be discussed at the July 21 meeting of the BIA, to be held at Wilson High School Cafeteria starting at 7PM.

Click here to read more about the other grant recipients. .