East Bank Wastewater Treatment Plant Floodwall Mitigation

At the request of the SWBNO’s recovery team, FEMA had prepared a Project Worksheet to fund the raising of the protective berm that surrounds the New Orleans East Bank Wastewater Treatment Plant (EBWTP). Unfortunately, FEMA Mitigation Specialist had determined that the facility protection berm does not qualify for Mitigation funding under the Public Assistance Program stating:

“Work described in this HMP proposal applies more to the relatively undamagesd elements (i.e. the Berm) than the damagesd elements of the WWTF. FEMA policy 9526.1 sections 7.A states that section 406 mitigating measures must be related to the eligible disaster related damages”.

The S&WB appealed this ruling. However, on May 19, 2008 FEMA rejected the SWBNO’s first appeal reiterating that the protective berm was an “undamagesd element” stating:

“The applicant has not provided any additional documentation to document that the berm is a damagesd element of its facility, therefore, it cannot be determined that the proposed Hazard Mitigation project meets the minimum eligibility requirements to qualify for section 406 Hazard mitigation funding, and the appeal denied.”

On July 3, 2008, the SWBNO filed a second appeal claiming that the mitigation project is consistent with FEMA’s policy eligible for FEMA funding. This appeal document was also used as the foundation to the SWBNO and FEMA’s formal Arbitration Process.

On November 17, 2009, in a letter to the United States Civilian Board, FEMA removed its objection to fund the requested project to elevate the New Orleans EBWTP berm agreeing that the elevation of the protective berm is an eligible mitigation measure.