Colonel Cullen Jones with the Army Corps of Engineers October 5, 2023.
The projected timeline for the saltwater intrusion on the Mississippi River, threatening water systems in southeast Louisiana has shifted for the better. Colonel Cullen Jones with the Army Corps of Engineers said with more rainwater from the north coming down the river and the underwater levee, also known as a sill, is still proving effective…
“All of that has been put back into our models to project out through the end of October then we’re extrapolating in November and that’s given us a more accurate picture, based off the current forecast today,” said Jones.
And because they are ahead of schedule with heightening the sill, Jones said it’s only pushed the intrusion timeline out further…
“And that’s only going to be increased as we increase the height of the sill there, so we’re getting an additional speedbump there, we’ve got higher flows than expected through September and a little bit better than where we were originally thinking going into October,” said Jones.
The heightening is expected to be completed by October 12th.
Jones said there will still be impacts to both Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes this month, but they are now projecting delayed impacts to the Algiers and Gretna facilities in late November.
“Currently through our extended forecast, through the month of November, we see the potential for no chlorate impacts affecting West Jefferson, Carrollton, and East Jefferson water treatment facilities,” said Jones.
The Corps said they’ll continue daily river surveys to monitor the toe of the saltwater wedge and sill performance. They will evaluate those along with the National Weather Service’s updated forecast and will brief the public on changes every Thursday.
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