NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- In the five years since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has become a laboratory for developing a new, state-of-the-art flood control system.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu says the city's very existence may be threatened over the next 100 years.

Pumps installed at the mouth of the 17th Street canal have raised the ire of government watchdogs. Critics say they'll fail in a major storm.

The Army Corps of Engineers admits the pumps need to be replaced but that won't happen until 2014.

Sandy Rosenthal, executive director of levees.org says that without them, water will rise to the top of the levees, "and very likely those levees will fail like they did during Katrina."

She also notes that the corps is protected from financial liability should it's flood protection fail.

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