The Bayou District Foundation, funded by a $1 million donation from the Zurich Insurance Group, is working on a project that would turn the lagoons at City Park into massive rainwater retention ponds.
Central to the project improving the weir, basically a large concrete box that connects to the pipes that flow into the Orleans Avenue Canal, currently at the site to include a gate that would open and cause the lagoons to drain ahead of a storm. The lagoons would then have room for stormwater, mitigating the flooding in surrounding neighborhoods.
The project is in line with the greater goals of the Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan and the planned Gentilly Resiliency District nearby.
The project is expected to be completed in the next month.
• City Park lagoons eyed as giant retention pond to abate flooding from future storms [The Advocate]
• What You Need to Know About the Gentilly Resiliency District [Curbed NOLA]