Citizens of the Lafayette area struggle against the challenges associated with street flooding. Every time it rains, we know to avoid certain areas- Ambassador, St. Mary around the UL Lafayette campus, and even the heart of downtown. This program empowers each of us to take a small step towards addressing one of the causes of street flooding which taps into the collective impact of the entire community. ‘Many hands make light work.’

We are utilizing an open-source program which has already been implemented in multiple cities around the US (New Orleans, Houston, Milwaukee, Nashville, Portland, and more) and connecting to already existing data of Lafayette storm drain locations. This will then connect to Lafayette 311 using an existing integration approach currently utilized by New Orleans’ application. This code base can be easily adopted to other “Adopt a ____”, and has been in other areas, such as “Adopt a Hydrant” in Boston. Once the inaugural project has been implemented, this idea can be easily scaled to expand across our regional watershed, parishes and communities. Once completed, the application will be managed with little oversight by a stable and invested partner. Maintenance costs are estimated at approximately $100 annually based on potential minimal adjustments and a subscription to the necessary weather API. Once the application is developed, our main focus will be motivating citizens through outreach and education to engage them and continue to utilize the program as a valuable part of the Lafayette community landscape.