Strengthened standards for constructing Louisiana levees could make residents safer in a hurricane—if they don’t keep the needed embankments from being built altogether.

Some members of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority have said recent changes to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ requirements for building levees need to be relaxed or levees won’t get built, according to an October 30 article in the Times-Picayune. The authority last week asked the state to do its own independent storm surge modeling as part of negotiations with the corps to reduce costs.

Although the new standards, which call for higher levees and higher-grade construction materials, are based on examinations of Hurricane Katrina levee failures and future storm expectations, they might not be necessary in every case, according to some on the authority.

“You have to remember that there was no (earthen) levee in the entire Katrina incident that failed before it was overtopped,” Authority Member Windell Curole told the Picyune.

Curole argued that lesser-quality levees can still “dramatically improve” safety in some areas, the article stated. Some, however, believe the state will get what it pays for when it comes to investing in high standards.

“It would be a huge mistake for New Orleans to once again allow concern for costs to drive levee designs too close to the margin of safety,” wrote David E. Daniel, former chairman of the American Society of Civil Engineers' Hurricane Katrina External Review Panel, in a November 4 letter to the editor. “Relaxing design standards can result in deficient levees that give residents a false sense of security, which can cost people their lives when a major hurricane strikes.”