Large portions of the city of New Orleans lie below river water levels in the Mississippi River to the south and west, and the Lake Pontchartrain floodway to the north and east. The city is ringed by levees to prevent flooding from these two major bodies of water.

These same levees, however, also prevent gravity drainage of rainwater from the city into the surrounding streams and lakes. Historically, it has been necessary to lift surface water in the city over the levees by mechanical means.

Prior to 1900, virtually all of the city's stormwater drainage was accomplished by a network of 71 miles of mains and open canals which were drained into Lake Pontchartrain by stream driven paddle wheels.

In 1900, the current system was began, utilizing vertical shaft screw pumps, 8 feet in diameter, which were, at the time, the largest pump machinery in the country.

Albert Baldwin Wood, an inventive young engineer was hired as Assistant Manager for the system in 1899, and later became world famous for his numerous inventions and improvements to the system, including a 6 foot diameter centrifugal pump in 1912, and a pump that would screen out or pass storm debris and trash in 1916.

Wood's crowning achievements, however, were the gigantic 12 foot diameter screw pumps, first installed in 1913 and the larger 14 foot pumps. These pumps have a total capacity of 1 million gallons/ 5 minutes. With a major expansion of the city's drainage canals and pumping stations in 1917, these pumps help New Orleans drain 14 inches of rainfall in 24 hours... making it the best drained city in the United States.