WEF to construct wetland in New Orleans—s City Park

ALEXANDRIA, VA. — The Water Environment Federation (WEF) announced “Bogging in the Big Easy,” its fifth annual service project. Organized as a part of WEFTEC 2012 — WEF’s 85th Annual Technical Exhibition and Conference — 100 conference volunteers will gather at City Park to plant a wetland designed to remove silt and pollutants from rainfall runoff before it reaches surface waters. The wetland will also provide a wildlife habitat and recreational area for park visitors.

The event is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 29 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in New Orleans. Hosted by WEF’s Student and Young Professionals Committee (SYPC), the community service project showcases the dedication of WEF members toward improving the water environment at WEFTEC conference locations through service and environmental education.

“The City of New Orleans is providing us with a wonderful place to conduct our business for the week. It’s appropriate that we give something back to the city, while demonstrating to the community that water’s worth our effort,” said Haley Falconer, vice chair of the SYPC.

At 1,300 acres, City Park is the largest recreation area in the New Orleans metropolitan area and receives over 5 million visitors each year. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina flooded over 90 percent of the park, felling thousands of trees and destroying park buildings.

“The park has a powerful impact on creating value in recovering neighborhoods,” said Falconer. “Its restoration will return vital recreation opportunities to the city.”

The service project sponsors include: ElectroScan, World Water Works, Black & Veatch, CDM Smith, HDR Engineering, Greeley and Hansen, Hazen and Sawyer, AECOM, Brown and Caldwell, Carollo Engineers, CH2M HILL, New York EPA, Philadelphia Mixing Solutions LTD, Wigen Water Technologies, AE2S, Brentwood Industries, Chester Engineers, Duperon Corporation, Entex Technologies, FKC Screwpress, Malcolm Pirnie, The Water Division of Arcadis, MWH, Schwing Bioset Inc., Stantec, Vaughan Company, Inc., Veolia Water – North America, Environmental Technical Sales Inc. and Engineering America.

Learn more about the service project and WEF students and young professionals programming at www.weftec.org/syp.

WEFTEC 2012 will be held at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center from Sept. 29 – Oct. 3, 2012. Visit www.weftec.org for the latest conference details.