GULF INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY WEST CLOSURE COMPLEX

The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West Closure Complex is a part of the New Orleans Drainage System; it consists of a navigable floodgate, a pumping station, flood walls, sluice gates, foreshore protection, and an earthen levee. The complex was designed to reduce the risk for residences and businesses in the project area from a storm surge associated with a tropical event, with an intensity that has a one-percent chance of occurring in any given year. When the gate is closed during a storm event, the 19,246 cubic feet per second 11 bay pump station is required to evacuate the rainwater that is pumped into Harvey and Algiers canals by 9 other pump stations along the canals. The pump station, which is the largest in the world, consists of 11 Caterpillar engines each producing 5,444 horsepower. The pumps could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in 3 seconds.