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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Corps Finds New Use for Newspapers |
| 2008-04-29 |
| Gathering around a newly constructed portion of the 15-foot Harvey Canal flood wall, representatives with the Army Corps of Engineers staged a press event Friday on the West Bank to clarify their techniques for preventing floodwater from seeping through openings in the walls. After a recent media report of joints between a New Orleans floodwall being stuffed with newspaper instead of the usual rubber material, corps officials said the work was a temporary solution in 2006 that is not being repeated elsewhere in area levee systems. But was it the Times-Picayune, or the trashy New York Times? "You had a lot of work being done to get things up to snuff after Hurricane Katrina," said Maj. Timothy Kurgan, chief public affairs officer for the Corps' New Orleans district. "I don't want people thinking there's just a bunch of newspaper inside this wall, and that's the only thing keeping water out." In order to prevent cracking in the floodwalls due to temperature change, walls are divided into separate panels with a half-inch gap in between. A series of barriers are placed in the gaps to ensure floodwater or other debris does not seep inside. The most important barrier is a thick rubber "waterstop" that runs vertically from the top to the bottom of the floodwall gap and is anchored into the concrete foundation. The waterstop is in the middle of the floodwall, and other rubber material fills the gap on both the front and back side of the floodwall. That material is sealed again on the outside. Corps officials said Friday that three panel gaps in a flood wall near the Paris Road bridge in New Orleans, near the St. Bernard Parish line, were plugged with newspaper instead of rubber in May 2006, as an "expedient" method to do minor repairs the year after Katrina. Those three gaps were the only ones where such a method was used, Kurgan said. "It's not the preferred technique," he said. Because the waterstop is in place, and because the outside of the newspaper filling was sealed, the risk of leaking is minimal, he said. Several engineers pointed to the black rubber filling being installed on one of the Harvey Canal floodwall gaps. So the newspaper is a spacer between other sealers. Slow news day. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #2 Funny timing: Last night the History Channel showed the "Cities of the Underground" and did piece on post-Katrina New Orleans. The US Army Corp of Engineers Rep; was emphatic about having limited organic material in the levee mud / dirt/ stuff because the organic stuff rots and provides channels for the water to seep through and destroy the levee from within. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-04-29 14:54 |
| #1 during bridge pier construction in marine waters, we've used wood shavings and sawdust to seal small leaks - the wood gets in, swells, and seals 'er tight |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-04-29 08:13 |