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.

INHC-LAKE BORGNE SURGE BARRIER

The 1.8-mile-long Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC)-Lake Borgne Surge Barrier is located at the confluence of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO), about 12 miles east of downtown New Orleans. The surge barrier works in tandem with the Seabrook Floodgate Complex at the north end of the IHNC (also known locally as the Industrial Canal) near Lake Pontchartrain. The projects reduce the risk associated with a storm surge that has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year, or a 100-year storm. At a cost of $1.3 billion, the IHNC-Lake Borgne Surge Barrier is the largest design-build civil works project in the history of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The IHNC-Lake Borgne Surge Barrier is the largest continuous surge barrier in the world.

THE ALL-AMERICAN CANAL

The All-American Canal is an 80-mile long aqueduct, located in southeastern California. It conveys water from the Colorado River into the Imperial Valley and to nine cities. Five smaller canals branching off the All-American Canal move water into the Imperial Valley. These canal systems irrigate up to 630,000 acres of crop land and have made possible a greatly increased crop yield in the area, originally one of the driest on earth. The All-American Canal is the largest irrigation canal in the world, carrying a maximum of 26,155 cubic feet per second. Agricultural runoff from the All-American Canal drains into the Salton Sea.

THE MAELSTROM OF SALTSTRAUMEN – EARTH’S STRONGEST MAELSTROM (WHIRLPOOL)

A whirlpool (or maelstrom) is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. The Maelstrom of Saltstraumen is earth’s strongest maelstrom. It is located close to the Arctic Circle, 20 miles round the bay on Highway 17, southeast of the city Bodø, Norway. The strait at its narrowest is 490 feet in width and water “funnels” through the channel four times a day. It is estimated that 110 billion gallons of water passes the narrow strait during this event. The water reaches speeds of 25 miles per hour with mean speed of about 8.1 miles per hour. The Maelstrom of Saltstraumen’s impressive strength is caused by the world’s strongest tide occurring in the same location during the new and full moon.