If you’ve been reading Big Easy Magazine from launch to now (and we certainly hope you have), you will have read and watched our ongoing coverage of the Sewerage & Water Board crisis. From faulty pumps to financial ruin to shops and homes being damaged (many times over), the turmoil just keeps rolling over each month.
Not to pile on, but perhaps they should have a meeting with engineers and activists if they haven’t already?
The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans, an “information clearinghouse” for everything and anything related to water management in this city, will be holding their Water Fall Fest this weekend. Like every gathering down here, it’s a celebration. A celebration centered on advocacy, on education, and on learning about how our day to day lives revolve around our relationship with the water we stand by and stand on.
Last year saw multiple flooding incidents within a few weeks, harming businesses like The Broad Theater and many a neighborhood and car. At Water Fall Fest, the collaborative looks to identify problem spots, teach locals and leaders on how to fight for the best and prepare for the worst, provide tips to keeping water in your pipes and out of your living space, and find a harmony that will ultimately benefit everyone. Don’t be scared off by talk of green infrastructure efforts and policy, because at the very least, food will be served and music from The Bucktown AllStars will be performing.
For long-term sustainability and for a future America WITH a thriving New Orleans, we NEED programs and legislation that support and encourage life in sync with our setting, not in charge of. We can re-direct all the rivers we want, and watch the land disappear into the current, but without understanding where we live and what we live on, and without implementing plans for years and decades down the line, we stand to lose everything.
Get pumped about more than functioning pumps!
Water Fall Fest happens Saturday, 11/17 at the Greater New Orleans Foundation – Center for Philanthropy on St. Charles, from 11 AM to 3 PM. Click here for more information.
Bill Arceneaux has been an independent writer and film critic in the New Orleans area since 2011, working with outlets like Film Threat, DIG Baton Rouge, Crosstown Conversations, and Occupy. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and is Rotten Tomatoes approved. Be sure to check out his film reviews and other articles here.
