NEW ORLEANS'LEVEES

CORNERS CUT

According to a group of engineers who are inspecting the levee system around New Orleans, the hurricanes weren't the sole reasons those levees failed. Although they are putting an educated guess at this point and will hope to prove it soon, corners cut doing construction was the primary cause of the levees to fail.

Pilings, which are supposed to lock the construction to substantial base, were not driven deep enough, the soil used as backfill wasn't the right type. In other words, corners were cut during their construction and this could be the contributing factor for their failure.

The engineers are basing their theory on interviews with the levee workers, contractors and widows of levee workers. They hope in the coming months to have solid evidence to back up their theory.