NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Drought upriver has left the Mississippi River so low and gradual that salt water is creeping farther than standard alongside the underside towards New Orleans and threatening ingesting water, the Military Corps of Engineers mentioned Wednesday.
The Corps plans an underwater levee to dam the wedge of heavier salt water earlier than it may possibly get into two of the 4 water therapy vegetation in Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans, officers mentioned in a information convention posted on YouTube.
The construction, referred to as a sill, might be as tall as 45 toes (13.7 meters), which might carry its high excessive sufficient to intervene with the extra-large ships the river was just lately dredged to accommodate, mentioned Heath Jones, the New Orleans Corps workplace’s emergency administration director.
The Corps mentioned deepening the river additionally lets the annual saltwater intrusion develop greater and last more, The Instances-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.
Salt already within the river’s lowest stretch might have an effect on the style, scent and shade of ingesting water however will not be a common well being risk, the Plaquemines Parish authorities mentioned in an advisory Wednesday. Sodium ranges are above these really useful for ingesting water for folks on very low-sodium diets, so folks on such diets or on dialysis ought to examine with their docs, it mentioned.
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