Stormwater Management for Environmental and Climate Justice Community Resilience

This study presents a comprehensive approach to sustainable stormwater management in disadvantaged urban areas, focusing on New Orleans' neighborhood of the Lower 9
^th
Ward. The goal is to address environmental concerns such as flooding and contamination while taking into consideration what improvements can be made in the community. Through collaboration with local organizations, an innovative design was developed to incorporate modern technologies and materials to mitigate flooding, improve water quality, and provide co-benefits to the community. This design, as a modular unit, features tree filter systems and a bioretention basin placed in accordance with natural hydrology to slow and treat stormwater runoff before it enters the city's drainage system. Laboratory testing was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of various media selected to treat the contamination found on site through soil and water sampling.