A New Flood Control Approach In Metro New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 25-acre site unused since Hurricane Katrina is among seven in Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes chosen as laboratories for an ambitious $6.2 billion proposal to keep water inside levees instead of pumping it out.

Supporters say the Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan could slow the sinking of dry land and manage floods.

The Times-Picayune reports that the sites would be demonstration projects to illustrate different approaches to water management.

The proposal was unveiled Friday at the Port of New Orleans.

Michael Hecht, president and CEO of the regional economic development group GNO Inc., says he and other supporters will try to get federal, state and private financing. A $2.5 million federal hazard mitigation grant paid for the plan's published reports.