Post-Katrina fecal contamination in Violet Marsh near New Orleans

Fecal material entrained in New Orleans flood waters was pumped into the local environment. Violet Marsh received water pumped from St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward. Sediment core samples were collected from canals conducting water from these areas to pump stations and from locations within Violet Marsh. Viable indicator bacteria and fecal sterols were used to assess the levels of fecal material in sediment deposited after the levee failures and deeper sediments deposited before. Most of the cores had fecal coliform levels that exceed the biosolids criterion. All of the cores had fecal sterols that exceeded the suggested environmental quality criterion. Our data show both a long history of fecal contamination in Violet Marsh and an increase in fecal loading corresponding to the failure of the levee system. The work was performed as part of the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force investigation into the consequences of the failures of the New Orleans levee system.