Drought Reaches New Orleans; Hurricane Isaac Could Add Insult to Injury
As the Mississippi River shrinks, the Gulf of Mexico is making its way inland.
(Related: “Pictures: Surprising Effects of the U.S. Drought.”)
To fight back, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the midst of an $8.1-million project to build an underwater levee, called a sill. The Corps will pile up as much as 2.5 million cubic yards (1.9 million cubic meters) of mucky sediment in an effort to keep saltwater from advancing into pipes that pull freshwater from the Mississippi for drinking and industrial uses in and around New Orleans.
“It is going to block the heavier concentrated saltwater from traveling north,” said Rachel Rodi, an outreach manager with the federal agency.
The region is especially susceptible to saltwater inflows, in part because, for its final 350 miles (563 kilometers), the Mississippi River
