At press time in mid-September, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) had drained nearly 90 percent of the brackish, oily, bacteria-laden floodwaters that have inundated low-lying areas of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Various federal, state, and local government agencies, assisted by private contractors and nonprofit groups, were scrambling to get drinking-water and wastewater treatment systems up and running. Once the city is drained of the deluge, it will face the arduous task of assessing the condition of thousands of damaged buildings as well as an environmental and public-health disaster of immense proportions.
The process of totaling up structural losses is only beginning. A full accounting will take several months, and detrimental effects to water quality and other local environmental and ecological conditions will surely be felt for years to come.
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