Tell the facts on New Orleans
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, October 5, 2005
To the editor,
New Orleans is unique, picturesque, fun and historic.
But what are the facts about New Orleans? Demand the facts and then, you, the taxpayer, decide regarding rebuilding.
Fact: Very little, if any, of New Orleans and its surrounding area are on a solid base, all being on a silt delta brought down river and deposited by the Mississippi River.
This unstable base is continually sinking (subsidence).
And the more you build on it (adding weight) the greater the subsidence rate.
Even the levees sink under their own weight, requiring continually increasing the levee height.
The only way to prevent the necessity of continually building, improving and replacing levees and adding more and more and bigger and bigger pumps, as the city slowly sinks further and further below sea level, is to build a “Floating New Orleans.”
Make the facts, true scientific facts not political hype, available to those who will be paying for this, the people, and let them decide on rebuilding New Orleans.
James L. Nix
Hartselle