Environmental Consequences of the Failure of the New Orleans Levee System During Hurricane Katrina; Microbiological Analysis

Abstract : Multiple failures of the levee system protection for the City of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 led to the flooding of the metropolitan area. The flood waters and sediments contained some dissolved and entrained chemical and microbial contaminants. Subsequent pumping of flood water from the city to the adjacent environment and the ongoing removal of sediment and sediment-coated debris are potential mechanisms to distribute these contaminants to the local environment. The recalcitrant hydrocarbon benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) was used as an indicator of hydrophobic organic contaminants and microbial and sterol indicators of fecal material to assess sources and sinks of these classes of contaminants. These data provided a basis for contaminant transport and fate models. Additionally, this report specifically focuses on the violet Marsh area outside the levee from the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans and on the Chalmette area of St. Bernard Parish, looking at potential environmental impacts.