Data Collection of Existing Sanitary Sewer System for the Chitimacha Tribe
Charenton, Louisiana
Overview
MSMM Engineering, LLC assisted the Sovereign Nation of the Chitimacha Tribe of Charenton, LA with advancing an ongoing Foundational GIS initiative they have been pursuing to advance sewer infrastructure goals developed for their Tribal lands.
Under the Flood Plain Management Services (FPMS) program, MSMM staff undertook a planning initiative that involved completing an assessment of the current sewer infrastructure on-site, cataloging the existing information, and developing CAD and GIS data sets for the Tribe to use in future infrastructure planning. MSMM initiated these efforts by hosting various meetings with Chitimacha Tribal leadership and Tribal community leaders to gain an understanding of the public infrastructure issues the tribe was facing. With this information in mind, field assessments and aerial imagery were used as planning tools to provide existing condition assessments of the Tribal lands. The first task that MSMM undertook was to create CAD sheets and GIS drawings for the existing sewer system, and to create CAD sheets for the planned sewer upgrades.
Through the process of creating these databases, MSMM was able to incorporate all as-built drawings into the GIS and CAD databases and incorporate attribute features that the Tribe requested to be included, including manhole locations, numbers, department, and pipe size.
Through the end of MSMM’s efforts working through the FPMS program, MSMM was able to create an upward reporting tool that is available to the not only the Tribe but the New Orleans District. In addition, LIDAR was flown to provide aerial photography of the Tribe lands, and all existing and future project conditions, along with future infrastructure recommendations were provided to the Chitimacha Tribe leadership.