Since I work in the Region 6 office of EPA, I have been quite busy assisting in our own efforts. Primarily in support of our work with Louisiana in getting public (drinking) water systems back online, monitored for contamination, etc. For a while there, I thought I would be helping my own family - sister and brother-in-law just north of Houston and my parents just west of Houston. Since Rita landed far enough east of them, my sister only had a 2 day power outage and some scattered tree debris.

In case you are interested, there is a GIS map on systems still down at:

http://www.epa.gov/region6/katrina/

>I have not been on here much lately. How did your plans for the Katrina relief effort go? I was in Houston three weeks ago, part of a group of 17 from Chicago and 41 from San Diego. We did a little bit of good -- like about a teaspoon in an ocean -- before our project was cut short due to Hurricane Rita. We were there Sunday through Wednesday instead of Sunday through Saturday, then joined the mass exodus on I-45 north out of Houston. I don't know that we put much of a dent in the damage Katrina had done, but it was something. Quite an experience.
>
>Best memory -- one day we were sorting and organizing relief supplies that had come into a warehouse from all over the country. Just seeing all the zip codes was inspiring. Some of it was from corporations -- an entire aisle of new shoes from Nike, two pallets of Monopoly games, countless truckloads of bottled water -- and some was from small, private groups. I was going through a box in the latter category and came across a teddy bear, well used. A note in little girl handwriting was affixed to the bear's right ear with about a roll of Scotch tape. "He is my favorite," it said.
>
>This was not by any means a Hallmark feel-good trip, not after seeing so many people at the Astrodome complex and elsewhere who had lost everything they couldn't carry, but it did reaffirm my basic faith in humanity. When bad things happen, people come through.