Water strategy – what New Orleans can learn from Holland

How the Dutch are Helping New Orleans Stay Dry – excellent 8-min audio interview with New Orleans architect David Waggonner and Netherlands Honorary Consul General Connie Willems about water management and flood mitigation in New Orleans and in the Netherlands.  Even with substantial differences between the two locations – the amount of water to deal with much larger in New Orleans, the Dutch are willing to pay higher taxes to fund their extensive water management infrastructure – there is much that New Orleans, the U.S. and other countries can learn from Holland’s centuries of experience in managing water.  In the interview Waggonner, who has made over 30 trips to the Netherlands to study this issue, talks about some of his ideas.

Here are two New Orleans-based efforts that Waggonner has been instrumental in:

Dutch Dialogues – “The “Dutch Dialogues” workshops are the outgrowth of extended interactions between Dutch engineers, urban designers, landscape architects, city planners and soils/hydrology experts and, primarily, their Louisiana counterparts.  David Waggonner, a local New Orleans architect, initiated this dialogue with Dale Morris, of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington, DC, and the American Planning Association.”

Living With Water – the Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan that includes reports on vision, urban design, and implementation.  “New Orleans firm Waggonner and Ball led a team of local and international water management experts in developing the Urban Water Plan, downloadable from this site.”