Posted on 09/03/2005 6:36:23 PM PDT by A. Pole
Efforts to drain New Orleans hit another snag Friday as the Army Corps of Engineers discovered that it could not buy new pumps to replace those damaged by the flooding.
Massive pumps capable of draining the city like those that have been keeping New Orleans dry for decades are no longer made and would have to be specially ordered, a process that would take too long, said Col. Richard Wagenaar, the senior corps official in New Orleans.
Instead, repair crews will have to dry out the existing pumps, which could take up to a week, before repairing them with replacement motors and parts and begin pumping water back into Lake Pontchartrain. The repair job could prolong efforts to drain the city, about 80% of which is submerged.
"These pumps are so big, you can't buy them off the shelf. You have to make them, and we don't have time for that," said Wagenaar, who spent about an hour Friday escorting President Bush around the levee damage at the 17th Street Canal.
The city, much of which is below sea level, relies on a network of 22 pumps to keep water out. Army engineers now believe eight pumps are underwater.
The latest wrinkle illustrated the enormous complexity of draining the city, which for more than 200 years had gradually built up an elaborate system to keep itself dry.
Even with the setback, Wagenaar said, the city could be drained in three to six months, mainly because engineers may finally be able to get to the largest pump station, at the end of the 17th Street Canal, as early as today.
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(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Besides, could they even get the requisite energy out of such a sub?
You know, the Big Dig in Boston started in 1990 and cost $15 billion!
If only John Kerry and Ted Kennedy had lobbied to spend that money on the levees in New Orleans.
There! It's Kennedy's fault!
Rule # 2: Don't build a wall all the way around your below-sea-level-city. If the water happens to get in, it can't get out.
#6 station is the largest 4 pumps total there. Where did your number come from?
So theses pumps are sitting on the shelf, form fit replacements for the pumps that have failed in NO?
And no one is doing anything about this?
Please, tell me more. This has got to be on the Internet.
No such thing for these pumps - they are massive and were made circa 1903. The main pumps run at, IIRC, 1/3 RMP. They were literally made to last for hundreds of years.
Also, if all of the pumping stations are up and running, they can pump out about an inch a day.
Most of the big dig is below sea level, those stupid people could kill thousands!
Thinking too of structures in the city that would form local "ponds" that will still have to be emptied individually.
Depends who you put in them!
Yeah and watch another hurricane hit again this year. The season's not over with yet.
Damn, other than electric power it would probably require a Boeing aircraft engine to spin something like that. I can't imagine.
But, who says they will have to be turned that slow to drain the place now?
I understand the #6 station was totally rebuilt with new pumps in the last few years. I posted it on FR days ago.
Someone needs to tell this company.
http://www.flowserve.com/pumps/markets/wr_flood_control.stm
Pumping it dry till the next hurricane hit does not make much sense. Trying to fill the basin to create a large artificial hill, say, 50+ft above sea level, and then building on top of it would be a true long term solution.
They call it "The Big Easy" because obviously its easy to get a paycheck in NO city government. By the way, the US Army Corp of Engineers didn't know this about the pumps, which makes me wonder what they were doing the last 30 years.
Best (and most logical) reply.
Nam Vet
ITT Industrial, which is a pump company for those who might not know.
You're more likely to be correct. I only know approximately. Possibly the pumps were designed for 500k theoretically. Reality is much different. It's a kind of 'history of the pump business' thing. More interesting than one might think!
500 gal/min pumps on PTOs would be more trouble than they're worth, I'd say.
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