Black-led Collaborative 'Water Wise' is Stopping Flooding in New Orleans Through Green Infrastructure

Members of Water Wise posing for a photo in New Oleans

This fall, at the intersection of Saint Bernard Avenue and North Claiborne in New Orleans’ 7th Ward, construction began on a new stormwater drainage system.

This wasn’t a “gray infrastructure” project planned by the city. It’s green infrastructure that 7th Ward community members had envisioned, a large bioswale with native plants that will absorb the water that frequently floods the neighborhood.

This is one of three large-scale, anti-flooding developments underway in the 7th and Upper 9th Wards as well as Tremé.

All are community-driven green infrastructure facilitated by Water Wise Gulf South, an environmental outreach collaborative prioritizing the needs of New Orleans residents who have been, and continue to be, most impacted by regular urban flooding caused by heavy rainfall.

A group of Water Wise volunteers pose at the Treme Center, a planter box designed to capture stormwater in New Orleans
A planter box designed to capture stormwater at the Treme Center / Photo courtesy Water Wise

Since 2016, Water Wise has supported the planting of over 500 trees and the implementation of over 150 other green infrastructure projects that have added over 50,000 gallons of stormwater retention capacity across the three neighborhoods.

What makes Water Wise different from other green nonprofits?
All of its projects are actually designed and built by local community members.

“We are making sure that those of us who are disproportionately affected, Black and brown communities, have the opportunity to take charge and lead our destiny in mitigation,” says Angela Chalk, a 7th Ward resident who founded the organization Healthy Community Services and has been the key point of contact for Water Wise activities in her neighborhood. “We live and work in the communities that we serve.”

Water Wise Gulf South was founded by the water professionals Jeff Supak, Hilairie Schackai, and Dana Brown to strengthen public awareness and use of green infrastructure across the region.

Colorful water barrels under a bridge in New Orleans
Water barrels being made available in New Orleans / Photo courtesy of Water Wise, via Instagram

(Green infrastructure encompasses a variety of nature-based installations that capture rain where it falls to mitigate flooding. Gray infrastructure relies on drains, concrete, and pipes to collect and channel stormwater into waterways without reducing the amount of water, so it often exacerbates flooding.)

Water Wise knew that localized urban flooding — not captured in FEMA’s flood risk maps — had become a persistent problem in many communities. In 2014 and 2015, they conducted flood mapping surveys across New Orleans and identified the neighborhoods most at risk.

After identifying the 7th Ward and Tremé, Water Wise partnered with the Greater Treme Consortium and Chalk’s Healthy Community Services to brainstorm around green infrastructure.

“There was a lot of feedback around actually demonstrating green infrastructure in the community,” says Supak.

Attention Neighborhood Leaders! Every drop makes a difference. #SlowTheFlow The Green Infrastructure Challenge - In Partnership with Water Wise Gulf South and Every Drop Makes a Difference
Water Wise's Green Infrastructure Challenge Neighborhood Grant for New Orleans / Photo courtesy of Water Wise, via Instagram

Since 2016, grants have helped Water Wise develop the “Water Wise Neighborhood Champions” program that would not only provide education to community leaders, but help communities identify priority projects for installation.

In the three-pronged program, participants begin with a Water Wise Neighborhood Workshop to learn about green infrastructure and do-it-yourself green infrastructure projects that people can install in their own yards or gardens.

Over 500 people have taken one of these workshops. That’s followed by a Green Infrastructure Tour, where participants visit green infrastructure projects across New Orleans (it went virtual during COVID-19).

Finally, Water Wise holds Green Infrastructure “Visioning Workshops” to identify priority projects within neighborhoods.

135 people have completed the full program.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell stands on a cement slab at Water Wise's first Citywide Infrastructure Tour
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell at Water Wise's first Citywide Infrastructure Tour in 2016, Keller Library. / Photo courtesy of Water Wise, via Instagram

Community members in Tremé, the 7th Ward, and Upper 9th Ward all developed community look-books that propose projects that could collectively store 6.5 million gallons of water and increase green space by 45 acres.

Following the program, Water Wise holds pitching challenges to provide seed funding for the implementation of projects in the look-book.

Brenda Lomax-Brown, the president of the Hollygrove Dixon Neighborhood Association, proposed green infrastructure for the Hollygrove-Dixon Life Transformation Community Center, where rain would pool at the entrance stairs and community members needed rain boots to get inside.

With Water Wise funding the community installed a permeable parking pad and rain garden. “When the first rain came, to see the water get sucked up and no more water pooling at the stairs — it was just an awesome experience,” Lomax-Brown says.

Water Wise volunteers planting native Louisiana plants in a rain garden between a building and a sidewalk
Water Wise volunteers planting native Louisiana plants in a rain garden / Photo courtesy of Water Wise, via Instagram

Installation has been key to bringing more community members into the work. “Inside the community I live in, people might not catch on at first — but once they see it, it becomes infectious and everyone wants to understand it,” says Katherine Prevost, president of the Bunny Friend Neighborhood Association in the Upper 9th Ward.

In the 7th Ward, 100 community members helped install the community’s first bioswale. “Finally the rain came and I had this ah-hah moment that this works and that we can begin to do this along with everyone else in the neighborhood,” says Chalk.

Since then, Water Wise 7th Ward has held or participated in 37 community outreach, education, and social events that engaged over 800 people around green infrastructure.

In addition to the bioswale, the community installed 25 rain barrels, one stormwater planter box, seven rain gardens, eight french drains, and two permeable parking pads. They’ve planted over 400 trees and removed 250 square feet of concrete.

The 7th Ward projects are managing 48,000 gallons of stormwater for each rainstorm event, a number that includes the 35,000 gallons that will be managed with the newest stormwater drainage system.

Two people stand happily in front of a rain garden at a New Orleans home
Concrete was removed and local plants were planted to build a rain garden in New Orleans / Photo courtesy of Water Wise, via Instagram

Beyond Water Wise seed funding, the community organizations independently work to fund projects from their look-books. “This is a grassroots movement, in my opinion, we’re doing everything without government help or funding,” says Supak.

“Government is slow and we can’t wait for government to catch up to us,” Chalk says. “All of us in these communities realize we have to get this right and that climate change is not waiting. We can’t wait.”

Water Wise community leaders hope not just to normalize green infrastructure, but pave the way for a Black-led environmental justice movement prioritizing the needs of communities hit hardest by climate change.

“When history is written,” Chalk says, “There will be Black and Brown faces all over the beginnings of the green infrastructure sector, at least in New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana.”

This story is part of the SoJo Exchange from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. It was originally published by Next City on November 22nd, 2021.

Related

How a College Student Founded NOLA’s First Glass Recycling Plant

Why The Environmental Movement Must Be Intersectional

Hurricane Ida Relief: Good News Out of Louisiana & How You Can Help

Article Details

December 7, 2021 8:20 PM
Flemmie P. Kittrell stands in front of a map

Globetrotting Black nutritionist Flemmie P. Kittrell revolutionized early childhood education and illuminated 'hidden hunger'

Throughout a trailblazing career that spanned half a century, nutritionist Flemmie P. Kittrel worked to enhance food security and to improve both diets and children’s health — under the umbrella of home economics.
Three photos. On the left and right, screenshots of Olivia Rodrigo speaking in an Instagram story. In the center, Olivia Rodrigo performs on stage. The hashtag #Fund4Good is placed atop the images.

Olivia Rodrigo to donate to women's shelters during Canadian leg of Guts World Tour

Following the success of her work with abortion funds, Olivia Rodrigo's Fund 4 Good will support women's shelters in Canada during the next leg of the Guts World Tour.
A student stands at the front of the classroom

Unaccompanied migrant teens have unique and profound needs. One New Orleans teacher created a special school to help them.

While English learners often require years of support to thrive in school, unaccompanied minors have special challenges.
Confederate Statue Taken Down

Monumental Victory: How New Orleans Is Taking An Ugly Chapter Of Its History Head On

In 2017, New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu began to rid his city of several Confederate Army monuments. It was the culmination of a two-year legal battle that ultimately came down to a City Council vote. 

Want to stay up-to-date on positive news?

The best email in your inbox.
Filled with the day’s best good news.