Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast awarded a nearly $5 million design-build construction task order May 19 to Web, LLC of Springfield, Va. to restore drainage systems in Basin 2 at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base (NAS JRB), New Orleans.

The project will include regrading conveyance ditches, lining ditches with concrete, removing sediment and debris buildup, resetting culverts and storm sewer inverts, upsizing culverts and storm sewer systems, installing additional culverts, and other related drainage repairs in Basin 2.

"This is a critical stormwater management project for an installation that sits below sea level," said NAS JRB New Orleans Public Works Officer Lt. Cmdr. Micah Kiletico. "Every drop of rain that falls onto the installation must be delivered to pumping stations managed by Plaquemines Parish through an intricate system of canals and underground pipes."

Because the Parish is surrounded by protective levees, all rainwater must be pumped over the levees into the undeveloped areas. It is essential the stormwater strategies of the installation are in conjunction with Plaquemines Parish in order to manage high-intensity rain events to avoid street flooding, flooded structures, and to remove areas of standing water.

The existing drainage system primarily consists of conveyance ditches, culverts, and pipe systems. Facilities have been developed and redeveloped over the years while continuing to use the existing stormwater systems. Some drainage systems are sufficient but others have deteriorated, due to sediment buildup in ditches, settlement of wet clay soils causing pipes to have negative slopes, and reduced capacity of ditches and culverts.

"This effort is the direct result of a basewide drainage study conducted at NAS JRB New Orleans that divided the base into five distinct sub basins," said Kiletico. "Drainage Basin 2 is one of the sub-basins identified as being in need of extensive repair and restoration. The effort for Basin 2 will provide relief from extensive flooding during and immediately after rainfall events, which are numerous in Louisiana."

This is the second of five basins being addressed as funding becomes available. Basin 1 is approximately 75 percent complete and Basin 2 is expected to be completed June 2017.

"It was imperative that the drainage infrastructure be studied as a whole in order to see where all of the issues were within the system," said Kiletico. "Drainage systems of this magnitude are made up of several subsystems which come together collectively to get the job done."

After the drainage study was completed, the project was broken into clearly-defined sub basin systems resulting in Basins 1-5; then requests for proposals were done.

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