Project Details

Swamp Thing: A Smart Water Grid System for New Orleans

A smart system for water management is flexible and can adapt to various conditions to most effectively distribute storm water based on demand. This system acts in contrast to the current mono-functional system that simply pumps water out of the city. The addition of swamps to the system in the first phase facilitates the creation of new, dynamic public spaces in New Orleans.

In this smart system, the pump stations act as central nodes. Each pump station has anywhere from one to fifteen pumps, which can be individually controlled to modulate and allocate water throughout the city. By tying the largest pump station to the water treatment facility, the ultimate goal is for the 64 inches of precipitation that falls on New Orleans every year to be cleansed and repurposed to serve all freshwater needs in the city.