re: Morganza Spillway may or may not open for a 3rd time -- lack of clear info from ACoE

Taken from the Fly this morning. The river was about 2 feet from the embankment, I’ve never seen it this high.

Call me a nut or a loon, but could all the breaks in levees and New distributaries in Plaquemines Parish on the east side like Mardi Gras Pass slowing the flow of the river and causing sedimentation up the river.

I looked at the river levels near Venice and it doesn’t seem high which the gauge is at 3.6 feet this morning and it is still being impacted by the tides.

My point is that by allowing the river to flow unchecked in near Venice. The river is flowing slower causing sediment to fall at bottom creating a shallower channel upriver.

By the way has anyone taken recent photos of these areas. I wish Google Earth had more updated photography of all area. You would probably see nothing but water near Fort St. Philip.

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could all the breaks in levees and New distributaries in Plaquemines Parish on the east side like Mardi Gras Pass

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My guess is that while that might lower the local water levels, it would actually serve to increase the slope of the water level, increasing flow. Still, that would be very localized.

As I understand it, a good bit of the sedimentation issues are related to the river responding to the man made meander cutoff program performed in the 30s & 40s.

Operation of the Morganza and Bonnie Carre also might cause acute sedimentation problems since they remove flow and therefore lower the sediment carrying capacity of the river. And since they mostly remove water from the upper portion of the water column, they don’t take a proportional amount of sediment with the flow. So it would tend to deposit near those structures...I think.

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By the way, just crossed the Luling Bridge and the river current was very strong

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Master of the Obvious

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Despite lots of wish casting, not much is going to happen

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Oh man, thanks I was worried. Just let the corps know so they all can go home.

He is right though, unless this storm comes and just sits on us and drops tons of water this is a nothing event. Eventually the river change will happen but there isnt near enough water currently. And with all the refortifying that has been done at ORCS it will mostly be at a failure in the levee. A crevasse due to a sand boil, not the control structure failing.

It is very simple. The river has been building up its bed for hundreds of years. Dredging negates that in the lower Mississippi river. Dredging isn't needed for tugs and barges up stream of Baton Rouge, therefore it isn't done up stream.

Eventually if nothing is done the Morganza spill will be to be opened for minor river events that aren't even news worthy.

So this means that one of two things must happen. Either the gov't will dredge from BR to above morganza or the river will change its route.

The only stop gap measure would be to change the law so that a larger portion of the flow should go down the Atchafalaya, even if only during times of high water.

But that will only delay the inevitable.

Belle River is falling fast AF, finally. Down to its lowest level since 5/11

Flood control act of 1954