With houses bearing the scars of Katrina still dotting the local landscape, three years after the storm a new report is laying criticism about the slow pace of demolitions and debris removal.

The report comes from the General Accounting Office, says, "Nearly three years later, the New Orleans area still faces significant debris management issues and challenges.” "The pace of home demolitions, which are now managed by the individual parishes, continues to be slow."

That statement stems from the report's observation that in the wake of Katrina, FEMA funded the demolition of nearly 17,000, but three years later, more than six thousand homes are still awaiting demolition.

That has the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality firing back at the report.

"Those houses were not built in three years. So, to think that you can demolish them and rebuild them in three years is a little bit absurd," Dwight Bradshaw, a spokesman for DEQ.

DEQ says the demolition process is taking longer than anticipated because of red tape.

"Local issues need to be resolved, property ownership has to be resolved, things like that, so again, we'd like to see it faster, but i don't think you can actually consider it being slow," Bradshaw said.

The report also says most of the 120 environmental enforcement actions discovered after the storm are related to improper debris disposal. Some of the violations were found at five area landfills.

And at another -- the controversial Chef Menteur landfill -- the report noted that rainwater in a pit there is now contaminated.

"We've had a lot of rain, so rains accumulated in that pit of the landfill,” Bradshaw said. “We've had tests done of the water. It is somewhat contaminated and for them to discharge that water, they'll have to treat it."

Also a concern in the report is the potential for asbestos contamination from Katrina-related demolitions, but the DEQ says their tests show no air problems.