Commentary: Louisiana should look to Dutch for well-planned canals

New Orleans CityBusiness, Jun 22, 2009 by Autumn C Giusti

Visiting Amsterdam a few years ago, I found one of the most striking attributes of the Dutch city to be its elaborate, meticulously designed canal system that wove its way through brick- paved streets.

The canals were the centerpiece of nearly every avenue, serving as recreational waterways where tulip and produce vendors would sell their wares from their boats.

The canals were so eye-catching that I initially thought they served only an aesthetic purpose. It wasn't until later that I learned they are an integral piece of the Netherlands' flood- control system.

Coming from New Orleans, it was hard to avoid comparing the Dutch canal system with Veterans Boulevard and other parts of Metairie, where drainage is an eyesore we drive around and try not to look at.

That our hotel in Amsterdam overlooked one of the city's scenic canals was a selling point. That my office building in Metairie overlooks the 17th Street Canal is, well, nothing special.

So it was encouraging to hear Sen. Mary Landrieu urge the federal government to follow the Dutch model of integrating flood control into our architecture, city planning and landscaping, instead of treating water like a cancer.

"Our model is patch and pray, whereas the Dutch model is engineering for guaranteed security," Landrieu said.

When it rains, the Dutch drain water into retaining lakes that sit in the middle of communities. But on most days when there's no rain, the lakes serve as plazas that are part of the city's landscape.

"They're not just pumping the water out and running away and barricading themselves against it," Landrieu said.

And more importantly, the Dutch model protects against a 10,000- year storm, whereas the Louisiana model guards against a 100-year storm.

Certainly this is would be a major, multibillion-dollar undertaking and no easy feat. It would have been nice to see planners integrate some of these ideas into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' original flood protection plans nearly four years ago.

The Netherlands' intricate canal system didn't appear overnight. It required years of careful planning. The Dutch realized that to do it right, there weren't going to be immediate results.

That line of thinking might not go over too well on this side of the pond and in Louisiana, where instant gratification often forsakes good planning for something half-baked but tangible.

That's not to say we can't start small.

Retention ponds throughout the metro area could also benefit from smart design. It was disappointing to see Jefferson Parish construct retention ponds along Clearview Parkway in Elmwood and give little thought to their aesthetics. Instead of creating a roadside focal point with fountains and lighting, the parish dug a few holes and waited for the rain to fill them.

The North Shore has set a good example of integrating recreational retention ponds into many of its neighborhoods and business parks. Another example is City Park, which recently added a fountain to the lagoon flanking the New Orleans Museum of Art.

What's more is we already have a number of canals in place. We just need to start incorporating them into our surroundings.

We may be 5,000 miles from the Netherlands, but we don't have to keep our distance from good planning.