Parishes up and down the Mississippi River still urgently preparing for saltwater wedge
By Eli Brand
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NEW ORLEANS (WDSU) — Despite a new forecast from the Army Corps of Engineers delaying the arrival of the saltwater wedge to many upriver parishes, downriver parishes still face a tight window before their intakes are inundated with salt.
One of those is Plaquemines Parish, whose lower portions are already seeing effects and is working to mitigate the problem by installing reverse osmosis machines in the Boothville, Port Sulphur, Pointe a la Hache, Belle Chasse and Dalcour water treatment facilities. Belle Chasse is also going to be getting a barge in place before Oct. 13, when saltwater is expected to reach the area.
“The forecast really hasn’t changed the plans undertaken by the Corps of Engineers. We did start barging water to those treatment facilities that are impacted and the (new) forecast had impacts on some of the treatment facilities further upriver, but the ones further south are still seeing impacts closer to the original timeline,” said Matthew Roe with the Army Corps of Engineers.
St. Bernard Parish is forecasted to have an extra nine days than in the original forecast before the Chalmette treatment facility starts being hit with saltwater. Their plan remains unchanged when it comes to installing reverse osmosis machines. They will just have a few more days before they need to install their water barge.
“We already have contracted with that barge, so we’re paying the contractor to hold that barge in place until we need it, or we tell them we don’t need it,” said St. Bernard Parish President Guy Mcinnis.
Gretna has another month before saltwater reaches its intake, according to the new forecast. Their plans to install a barge repurposing four sugar containment tanks for reserve water remain unchanged, however. Mayor Belinda Constant says a barge should be secured by the city next week.
The major intakes in East Jefferson, West Jefferson and Carrollton/New Orleans are no longer expected to see saltwater effects through the month of November.
“We all took a collective sigh of relief because, at a minimum, what it does is give us an extra month,” said Jefferson Parish Public Works director Mark Drewes.
Both parishes plan to continue with their pipeline projects despite the new forecast but will be using the extra time to make sure the projects are done as efficiently as possible.
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