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Gutters



Jordan Adsit
Washington University in St. Louis, 2010

Problem
New Orleans’s conventional drainage system aims to get rid of water as fast as possible: roof gutters and eaves lead rainwater directly toward street gutters, storm sewers, and pumps. This speed means that water arrives in the system faster than it can be removed, and drains all over the city back up.

Proposal
The project delays water’s arrival in the storm sewer system to reduce the chance of uncontrolled flooding. Rainwater is directed into rain gardens on individual lots and then toward planted swales and wetland gardens, where water is held safely until it can be pumped out of the system.