Elite engineering panel says New Orleans needs better protection - duh! - New Orleans Levees News and Views
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Before now, Levees.org had considered the NAS fairly incorruptible. But then we saw this opening sentence of the group's press release:

"Levees and floodwalls surrounding New Orleans -- no matter how large or sturdy -- cannot provide absolute protection against overtopping or failure in extreme events.."

The word "absolute" makes the sentence a truism, but did not stop publications like the BBC from publishing headlines like "Levees cannot save New Orleans."

This NAS press release is terribly damaging to the folks in New Orleans because it leads people to think New Orleans and the vicinity cannot economically be protected.

Dr. Han Vrijling, Professor of Hydraulic Engineering and Probabilistic Design at Delft University of Technology had this to say about NAS's opening sentence.

"...Levees will never give infinite protection, but it is economically wise to make levees in New Orleans very safe up to levels of failure of in average only once in 5000 years. Right now it's once in 100..."

The press release has the effect of announcing to the world that people should not trust American civil engineering.


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