Spillway ?? Morganza and Bonnet Carre

There are protocols for all of this. You don't want to flood people unless you have to. Also, opening them weeks ago means that there would also likely be prolonged flooding. Furthermore, places like Morgan City are preparing for the opening by sandbagging and shoring up levees.

Just let the people smarter than you do their job.

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Just let the people smarter than you do their job.

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I hope your Mom is proud of you for being a dickhead.

I was asking a simple question. I know there are protocols for this. I was speaking hypothetically, that if they had would it have made a difference on the overall flood level. I wasn't being critical of any choices being made by the powers that be.

Federal mandates. The river has to be at a certain level to open either structure.

Well at a certain flow rate, but we know what you mean.

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Your failing to understand my question. I am not asking if it should have been done. I am wondering if it had would it have made a impact on the current river levels.

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I am not failing. You think a federal law could be changed on short notice? The amount of redtape needed to pass any Federal law is mind blowing. These levels are closely momitored and there is no amount of bitching that can change it.

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I am not failing.

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Yes you are, I would call you stupid but I have read enough of your postings to know your a pretty sharp guy. I am not talking about laws. I am wondering do you think if it was "POSSIBLE" and they could do whatever they wanted, if they had been opened early would it make a difference in river level.

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if they had been opened early would it make a difference in river level.

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I agree. But, it is out of our hands. The BC should have been opened earlier, but there is no way to change a federal mandate that quickly. I am a realist and this shite could be bad.

I totally agree with your premise. It is just not possible. My business is 30 feet from the levee and I wish the Federal BS could have been overridden. That is like wishing that Freida Pinto would land in your bed with five 100mg Viagras and say "lets frick".

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opening them weeks ago means that there would also likely be prolonged flooding

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You could have opened them up 3 weeks ago and it wouldnt have made a difference....the water didnt get into the fore bay until just earlier this week

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Just let the people smarter than you do their job.

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Thats like the 4th time I read this on this board today.....so original.

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Yes you are, I would call you stupid but I have read enough of your postings to know your a pretty sharp guy. I am not talking about laws. I am wondering do you think if it was "POSSIBLE" and they could do whatever they wanted, if they had been opened early would it make a difference in river level.

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Your problem is you're thinking of the river like a stagnant bathtub instead of a flowing pipe. With a pipe, it doesn't matter if there is water in the pipe beforehand--it will rapidly equilibrate the flow rate (upstream flow) to the pressure in the pipe (on this case, the height of the river and its flow rate since it's not a closed tube). Basically, pre-lowering the river by opening the spillway wouldn't do much as far as buying time because the height will rapidly equilibrate to the incoming flow. This same principle applies to opening the Morganza early. In both cases, you're using spillways to divert flow rate from the downstream path thus reducing the downstream pressure and height. Reducing the pressure on the levees around New Orleans by opening the BC spillway prior to the river achieving levels that endangered the levees would be pointless and would simply further damage the lake's ecosystem with no significant hydraulic benefit. That's where the formulas come in.

I don't know if I'm explaining this well... If I lost you and you're still curious, sign up for a fluids class somewhere or peruse a textbook.

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If I lost you and you're still curious, sign up for a fluids class somewhere or peruse a textbook.

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Do you know what a fluids textbook looks like to some one that hasn't studied that subject? It's funny watching people zone off when I talk about water.

Like I said before, the flood control system they have in place is designed to handle a pre-determined flowrate that they are comfortable with. The river is not at that point yet, so there is no reason to divert water yet at Morganza. They have several gages down the Mississippi, so they can determine fairly accurately what the flowrate is coming to the next gage and when it will get there.