“Although nothing could stand up against Katrina, the Schneider Canal pumping station is extremely valuable when it comes to holding back floodwaters in lesser storms that we can get during or outside of hurricane season,” Mayor Ben Morris said.

When working at capacity, Public Operations Director Mike Noto said, each of the six pumps pump can move 63,375 gallons of water per minutes for a total of 380,250 gallons per minutes.

Since the hurricane, the city has been forced to use a significantly less efficient – about 50 percent capacity – bypass pumping system to maintain water flow from the channel.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is paying for the rebuilding. Work on the $2.5 million-plus project – delayed until federal aid was approved and later by rain and water hyacinth overgrowth – began last June.

Nottingham Construction Co. of Baker, La., has the contract in which all six pumps were repaired and reinstalled. The motor-control centers and cabinets for each pump, essentially all the electrical work except for the generators, had to be replaced.

The contractor also had to remove debris from the pump wells and intake/discharge areas and replace the earthwork behind the wing walls of the station just off Pontchartrain Drive (U.S. 11 South).

The six-pump station became fully operational in 1998 and has seen numerous improvements since then. At more than $5 million for construction, pumps, diesel-powered emergency generator, the west levee, road access, trash rakes, related improvements and engineering fees, it’s Slidell’s single most expensive drainage work.

All four of Slidell’s pumping stations are in the southern half of the city. Engineering design work has begun on a $76,680 upgrade to the Lee Street station. A metal shelter to protect the pumps at the Old City Barn station is finished. And city officials are considering ways to enlarge the sump area for the Dellwood station.

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City of Slidell: http://www.slidell.la.us

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