[the invisib1e hand]

don't believe it. there are some pretty big pumps around. anyway, the submerged pumps are probably fine -- it's the powerplants that are shot. and there are plenty of big powerplants around.

[oceanview]

yes, but they have to get huge diesel generators out to the pumping stations.

[Blood of Tyrants]

It isn't the pumps that are the problem, it is the switchgear (enigeer talk for transformers and mondo circuit breakers and switches) and motor starters. If the switchgear is full of water, it will explode when power is applied to it. Same for the motor starters.

[hadaclueonce]

don't believe it. there are some pretty big pumps around. anyway, the submerged pumps are probably fine -- it's the powerplants that are shot. and there are plenty of big powerplants around. I do not believe there are electric generation stations left in NO. They had a bunch of peakers in the early 90's but due to NOX emmisions they were moved. It is the Transmission system that has been knocked out. I just work in the industry, so what do I know. Your probably right.

[snowsislander]

there are some pretty big pumps around.

Yes, there are some very big pumping systems out there; the biggest that I can think of are the ones used for "pumped-storage" hydroelectric, like at Raccoon Mountain: http://www.tva.gov/sites/raccoonmt.htm

I don't know if any of that technology would be applicable here (I don't think any of it is designed to even be slightly mobile), but I wonder if it wouldn't be worth contacting one of the companies that make those pumping systems and see if there is anything that could be done.

[dufekin]

I have heard that the pumps in New Orleans are the most powerful in the world--and basically unimproved since 1913. They have to drain an enormous city of all rainwater, sea spray, seepage, sewage, and various other waters that enter into it. That's a gargantuan task, even in good times. Most industries don't need to drain something as enormous as a city of a million people below sea level.

[dufekin]

PS: When will they arrest the mobs in New Orleans and organize them into a great chain gang to use as a bucket brigade to drain the city and to clean the city? I'm sure that millions of crimes have been committed in the past week--everything from jaywalking to vandalism to public urination to rape to animal cruelty to murder. We'll probably get a massive, long-term chain gang, probably housed in such squalor that prisoners frequently die for their heirs to replace them.

[GSlob]

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.

[philetus]

it's the powerplants that are shot. and there are plenty of big powerplants around."

Like this?

[Smokin' Joe]

SHeesh! Maybe they should find some old oilfield duplex pumps. They are skid mounted, truck transportable, and if set up with a cat motor on another skid can move a lot of water. A lot of triplex pumps are busy on drilling rigs, but who knows?

[k2afe]

Also to All using this site. Atomic/Nuclear Power plants have and use 500 HP motors and pumps that would be used to quickly
pump water into the generator area for fast cooling, should the reactor begin to heat excessively.. i suspect the N O pumps are about the same size. There is a solution out there if they just do a search. k2afe Florida

[Bullfrogg]

Just where do suppose these pumps are, at Wal-Mart?
Pumps of these sizes are not made everyday, and to set up molds to make the housings, vanes and implellars to handle a specific amount of water involves a great deal of engineering.
I do hope you being sarcastic, or just joking. To handle that amount of water to pump out may require between 8 to 10 foot diameter pipes to drain NO. No way a two horse power pump will do the job. Lets argue the point.

Bullfrog

[anymouse]

Houston has some of the biggest and best pump and valve manufacturers in the World. If they can pump oil and chemicals, they can pump water. There are probably some sizable water pumps here, as refineries use a lot of water for cooling.

If the replacement pumps aren't as big, use more of them! If the pump is bigger than a flatbed semi can haul, it won't be able to get there anyway.

[chickenlips]

I agree. Me thinks wet motors and motor controllers are the real problem. I don't understand why the pumps themselves would need replacing?

But when so many lives are at stake you would think an extra pump would have been in storage. (Did they check in the school buses?)