Water event
Hurricane Katrina water and sanitation collapse
Levee failure flooded most of New Orleans, destroying water and sanitation services and creating widespread contamination of standing floodwater.
Key facts
- Event type
- Flood
- Started
- 2005-08-29
- Ended
- 2005-09-30
Cause
Storm surge overwhelming and breaching levees and floodwalls, some of which failed below their design loading.
Impact
- Loss of drinking water and sewerage across the city
- Floodwater contaminated with sewage, fuel and chemicals
- Over 1,800 deaths across the affected region
Response
Mass evacuation, emergency water distribution, and multi-year reconstruction of the flood protection system.
Aftermath
Reshaped US flood protection engineering and emergency planning, and demonstrated how completely urban water and sanitation depend on flood defence.
Relationships
- Located in: United States
Related intelligence
DC Watersame placeColorado Riversame placeLake Meadsame placeOgallala Aquifersame placeMilwaukee Cryptosporidium outbreaksame placeFlint water crisissame placeJackson, Mississippi water system failuresame placeFlint — criminal proceedings against state officialssame placeDuPont and Chemours — PFAS settlementssame place3M — PFAS public water system settlementsame placeDasanisame placeGoogle Council Bluffssame place
Sources
- Peer-reviewed scientific literature — Open-access hydrology, water chemistry and water use research. Public but restricted · Publisher terms — public access, reuse not clearly granted