There is a wealth of sediment in the delta of the Atchafalaya River. It is so massive that it creates problems for shipping in that area.
Meanwhile, the rest of our coast is eroding away into the Gulf of Mexico which must be reversed within 10 years if we are to save it. And we are planning to try and do that by piping sediment from the Mississippi River into our decaying wetlands which are our last hope of protection.
Why can’t we master a technique for spreading that sediment from the Atchafalaya delta along the coast where it is needed? Perhaps the masterminds with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers who are supposed to be spearheading the salvation of Louisiana’s coast can figure it out.
At a meeting of Louisiana’s Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority last Thursday in Baton Rouge, it was repeated several times by a representative of the Atchafalaya Basin Foundation that they would be glad to provide that sediment to the rest of the coast. But no one came up with any ideas as to how to do it.
If we are planning to pipe sediment from the bottom of the Mississippi River into the midst of our decaying wetlands, we should be able to do likewise from the sediment rich delta of the Atchafalaya? We need to give that some serious thought.
But we can’t take too long to do it. Time is ticking away on that 10 years if we want to continue living along the coast of Louisiana.
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