The Delta Context
Water Leaders engage historic maps and drawing activities to grasp how the Mississippi River created the muddy ground upon which New Orleans is situated, the impact of European colonization and modern drainage on the landscape, and ongoing processes of land loss, subsidence, and sea level rise that are constantly reshaping the delta.

Policies and Programs
We explore the policies, and programs that govern our relationship to water. These range from zoning ordinances to the city’s resilience and water infrastructure projects to coastal restoration efforts and national flood insurance policies. The WLI team assists participants in making sense of bewildering acronyms and public policies, and in identifying opportunities for citizen input, leadership, and systems change.

Solutions
With the support of technical experts, we study historic forms of water infrastructure, present-day gray infrastructure, green infrastructure practices, and comparative case studies from around the world. We expand our understanding of possible interventions for the home, neighborhood, city, and region, and test those possibilities against our  understanding of what is possible and desirable for our communities. We collect questions, ideas, and strategies articulated in these sessions as invaluable data to inform both planning processes and community responses.