We all know the basic rule for water - it always flows downhill - Yah for gravity! For this reason, water will always take the path of least resistance and the steepest quickest way down. This holds true not only for the coffee you spillt on the road this morning but also for massive amounts of water as well - rivers. For people not from Louisiana or the area around, Old River Control is something they've never heard of. Basically it is a series of dams built to keep the Mississippi river from flowing into the Atchafalya river, a river that takes a third of the distance to get to the Gulf of Mexico than the Mississippi does (142 miles vs 335 miles). So naturally, the Mississippi wants to flow down the Atchafalya.
What's so wrong with keeping the river from taking a different path you ask? The coastline where the Mississippi delta currently is keeps growing and growing due to all the sediments it carries being deposited there. But the coastline where the Atchafalaya lies is being eroded faster than the river can replenish it. Also... remember how I said that when people fight mother nature, mother nature ALWAYS wins? Many experts predict that the Atchafalya will eventually capture the Mississippi. I find it also inevitable. How would life change after the Mississippi took a different path?
The following excerpt is a description of possible life after the switch is from Kazmann and Johnson (1980:10-16).
"In the aftermath of the huge floods that would cause the main flow of the river to jump to the Atchafalaya River, aside from the cost, anxiety, tragedy, and aggravation of dealing with massive amounts of water being in the wrong place, there would be lingering issues that would change the way of life on the lower Mississippi. Instead of 70% flow down the lower Mississippi and 30% flow down the Atchafalaya, the percentages would probably reverse. The Atchafalaya would be a rushing, raging river, even during the fall for a period of time until it scoured the channel and filled in the lower reaches so that the flow would diminish. Morgan City would have to be relocated, as would other communities and many businesses, possibly including the massive infrastructure of the offshore oil and gas industry. Fisheries would be altered measurably all across the delta. Oyster reefs would be immediately destroyed, and would take several years to reestablish and become productive (no erysters!). It would probably take two decades to adapt to the new environment around present day Morgan City. Additionally, pipelines, bridges, and the like that cross the Atchafalaya would be destroyed or rendered unsafe. The ruptured natural gas pipelines would place stress on fuel supplies for energy companies, but they would quickly change to more costly fuel sources and have little or no interruption of service. Imagine the traffic jams when and if bridges on I-10, U.S. 90, and U.S. 190 collapse (what about the railroads)? All trans-state traffic would have to be rerouted to I-20 via I-55 through Jackson, Mississippi, adding up to 615 miles to the trip (not to mention time delays from the traffic jams). The protective levees of the Atchafalaya Basin would have to be upgraded to handle the new pressure from spring flows. And, oh my gosh, think of the negative impact on the crawfish supply!
The lower Mississippi would still have a copious amount of water, but it would be slack compared to today. Shipping could continue to be an important industry, but it would be interrupted for a time. The slack water would allow (cause) the thalweg to fill in and stop deep-draft shipping. However, after intensive dredging efforts it may be found that a 50 ft channel can be easily maintained because of the tremendous decrease in sediment. New Orleans, possibly Baton Rouge, and all other cities and towns along the lower Mississippi would no longer be able to get their drinking water from the river. It would become too salty, since the lower fresh water flow would not offset the tidal movement of the Gulf. Can you imagine the cost of piping or trucking enough drinking (and flushing, etc.) water from north of Lake Pontchartrain to supply the needs of Greater New Orleans? Can you imagine Greater New Orleans without water for drinking and sanitation? Even when the water was just barely increasing in salinity, there would be severe damage to water heaters, fire sprinklers, fire truck pumping systems, and more. The quality of our coffee! As mentioned above, the fisheries (especially those associated with the fresh water river) would suddenly change. And what about the massive petrochemical industry corridor? Aside from the impact on shipping, which they could weather over time, industry could no longer use fresh river water for thermo-electric cooling. The saltier water would corrode all the pipes and related instrumentation. Of course, industry would change to salt-tolerant materials, but that would be costly and time consuming. Also, the sugarcane industry would have problems without sufficient fresh water.
All of this adjustment, and we have not delved into the intensity of impact on people's lives during the crisis and the adjustment period. All normal routines would stop. Businesses would be closed, as would schools, normal government, etc., etc. Virtually the entire population would spend months and months just coping - just putting their and others' lives back together. Imagine the emotional strain to the population - people losing a lifetime of accomplishment. This would be a tragedy of monumental proportions. It would interrupt life much like World War II.
One can also imagine the impact on the nation. Massive use of Federal dollars to protect and restore Louisiana's infrastructure. Loss of natural gas (there would be brown-outs throughout the eastern seaboard). Commerce would be interrupted by restriction of travel and Louisiana=s inability to focus on supplying items traditionally demanded from her natural resources by the nation. Prices of all Louisiana products (from the natural resources [fisheries, oil, gas] to industrial products [poly vinyl chloride, polyethelene, etc.]) would soar. The interruption of the pogie fisheries would be very negative for such food industries as chicken, catfish, and hogs (see the last section of the notes). New Orleans is one of the most important ports in the nation, and it would suddenly cease to function; all shipping and related industries on the Mississippi River would stop. International trade would be further imbalanced. The massive fertilizer business would shut down and the agriculture industry would falter.
And what about the economy of south Louisiana? For a period of time, all the revenue would dry up and tourism would collapse. Even Mardi Gras would possibly come to a halt!!! Only the mosquitoes would do well! And probably the cockroaches and Formosan termites.
Long term, we would adapt. Once the drinking and sanitation water issues were resolved, tourism would return. Coastal erosion could be reversed on the west side of the present-day Mississippi River. Shrimp, oysters, and other fisheries would probably flourish after a number of years due to new marshes being produced and nutrient rich sediments being redistributed.
This would obviously place a lot of stress on at least two generations of residents. We would survive, but it would be a new Louisiana and Mississippi River delta.
What condition might potentially lead to this scenario? Experts predict that the ORCS might fail if the snowfall between Saskatchewan and New York exceeds that of the winter of 1972-73."
Just take a minute and look at the scenario WE have caused for ourselves. We have to continue to pump millions of dollars into keeping the rivers separate because of the bad choices we have made. Our tax dollars.
Now... the levees... you might think these are a good thing, but then you would be mistaken. The levees only multiply the severity of flooding and other problems.
Think of all the roads around your house... and the parking lots... and buildings... what happens after a huge rain storm? They all have drains, correct? So instead of the soil absorbing all this rain water, it is directly transported to the sewer system and from there to the river. We have NEVER had faster flooding before in history. The amount of water dumped into the Mississippi is only growing day by day. As we pave more roads and build more houses and make more parking lots... the problem gets worse.
The levees hold all this water back from the banks where the flood waters like to go. Nature usually takes care of floods herself and the water is absorbed by miles and miles of the flood plain. And with so much water now being directed to the Mississippi, each levee, which is the length of the Great Wall of China, on each side must continue to be built bigger and higher... with OUR tax dollars.
Another problem created by the levee system is that all the sediments in the river that are usually deposited on the flood plain are now being channeled down the river instead. The flood plains are becoming less fertile, but the main problem is that this nutrient rich water is being directed right into the ocean... Algae are eating up these nutrients, mass spawning, mass dying, and after they die, they sink. As they sink the devoid the water of oxygen, making what fishermen call a "deadzone". (This is also how most of our oil / natural gas / coal was made, but that's another story for another day.)
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| Water from all these areas... |
The last problem I would like to bring up is that New Orleans must be constantly dredged now because the sediment of the river begins to drop on the river bed before hitting the ocean. This also costs a ton of money. OUR money.
I hope this gets your head gears turning, because this is only the beginning of problems we've created. I only mention tax dollars so much because for some people, the problem itself is not a problem to them. If there is money involved, some may think twice about it.
Well, that is my rant for this morning... hehe... see you all later...
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