What are some of the future risks for the levees in New Orleans?
It is almost certain that other sections of the levees have been weakened in addition to those locations where the failures actually occurred. It is thus imperative that the levee system be inspected and repaired before it can be relied upon to function properly and protect the city. Even a storm weaker than Katrina will put significant stress on the compromised levee system and cause more breaches. Reportedly, the city system was originally designed to resist a category 3 hurricane, but it will not sustain that level of storm in its current condition. Are there any other risks for the levees to Orleans? In some sections of New Orleans the levees are underlain by weak soils that are slowly compressing or sinking (organic silts). In some areas the city is sinking as much as 5 mm per year, which equates to about 2 inches in 10 years. To complicate matters, the sea level is rising globally, in the range of 2-4 mm per year; that means the city is losing an additional inch, with a water lev
