After sucking everything from sludge to tree limbs from more than 50,000 New Orleans storm drains, Broomfield-based MWH Global has contracted with several local companies to haul it away.
MWH has multimillion-dollar contracts for the work with both the Army Corps of Engineers and the City of New Orleans, said Ray Hartley, the company’s regional manager.
“The amount of debris is beyond comprehension,” Hartley said of the scene in New Orleans almost two months after Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. “If you take your worst nightmare and triple it, you are here.”
Trucks equipped with heavy- duty vacuums pulled the debris from the storm drains. Now MWH’s employees are making sure that local contractors dispose of the trash properly.
Some of it is hazardous, for example, and has to go to hazardous-materials waste stations. Some is wet and must be dried out.
MWH specializes in engineering, construction and water management. When Hurricane Katrina hit, it was midway through a 10-year, $650 million contract with New Orleans.
The company was serving as program manager for assessment and repair of the city’s aging sewer system and was working with about 35 local contractors.
That work was suspended while the city focuses on recovery efforts.
The biggest challenge now facing MWH is finding workers, Harley said. “It was really a stretch to find the local (contractors) because a number of them haven’t come back to town.”
The company spent two weeks after the storm rounding up its own personnel and contractors, and preparing them for the cleanup, Hartley said. All were given training and immunization against tetanus and hepatitis A.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-820-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
