Now that fresh water from the Mississippi River is changing the complexion of Lake Pontchartrain, it is time to decide where that water should be directed in the future and start to take action.
When the Bonnet Carre Spillway in St. Charles Parish was opened recently to prevent flooding from the river, it was expected to cause problems. And it is beginning to.
Not only is fresh water changing the salinity of the brackish lake, but it is causing algae to grow which takes oxygen out of the water. And this causes fish to die.
This is bad news for our commercial fishermen and sportsmen who claim the lake as one of the best fishing spots around.
Meanwhile, the wetlands around the lake and spillway are suffering from a lack of fresh water needed to grow vegetation that will keep them from eroding away. And that of course is happening along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico which now has a huge dead zone caused by the fertilizer-laden river water from the midwest.
It seems logical that some of our experts could figure a way to turn the Bonnet Carre Spillway into an instrument that can filter river into those wetlands to help save them while preventing the river from overflowing into populated areas. It could be opened even in years when the river does not threaten to overflow and the water directed into the wetlands.
Actually, Lake Pontchartrain originally was a fresh water lake. Changing it back may, in some ways, be beneficial.
But we do need diversions on a grand scale to restore the eroding coast of Louisiana. And making use of the spillway in doing it should certainly be investigated.
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