Not rolling on the river: Drought tests America鈥檚 main water highway
| New Orleans
The exposure of the Mississippi River鈥檚 dry banks makes it look vulnerable, laid bare as a result of a monthslong drought across the U.S. heartland. In normal conditions, the river鈥檚 tributaries would help feed the historically reliable flow of its water for more than 2,300 miles as the river carves its way from its headwaters in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico鈥檚 emerald-green surface.
But today, where water usually stands along the river鈥檚 banks in New Orleans, mud cracks in the sun. It鈥檚 a challenge that begins hundreds of miles north, where water levels have been recorded at 30-year lows in some parts of the lower Mississippi region that stretches from southern Illinois to the Louisiana coast.
The result is a logistical emergency for waterborne trade, but also a new impetus to better understand this massive watershed and what humans can do to safeguard and manage it in a time of flux. Nature is resilient, but the predicament here shows even the biggest of inland waterways can鈥檛 be taken for granted.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onWater levels in the Mississippi River fell far below normal this autumn. Recent rains are starting to allow freight to flow more freely. But questions remain about how to manage the river for resilience.
This is a time to think about making the river 鈥渕ore resilient,鈥� says Clint Willson, an expert in Mississippi River hydraulics and professor at Louisiana State University.聽
鈥淚 never say we control the river. We鈥檙e trying to manage the river. When you manage something, you鈥檙e using your experiences, your knowledge. That relies so much upon what聽experiences have you had.鈥�
One experience recently has been聽the disruption of global trade. More than 500 million tons of cargo travels the Mississippi annually, according to estimates from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. That includes food grown in the Midwest for global and domestic consumption, energy byproducts, and more. And for weeks, the river鈥檚 low water levels have narrowed the shipping lanes carrying those products toward the coast. Some barges have run aground attempting to navigate its shallow waters.
Amid AccuWeather estimates that the total economic damage could get as high as $20 billion, recent days have brought signs of improvement in water levels at key points such as Memphis, Tennessee.
Interacting with nature
The Mississippi River predicament is not solely a climate change story. It鈥檚 about continued investment in infrastructure and research, or a lack thereof. It鈥檚聽also聽about the concept of managing water in a way that鈥檚 functional for both the river and its surrounding communities, say experts聽like Professor聽Willson.
In many ways, south Louisiana is a laboratory for that understanding.
Here, the historically low freshwater levels have allowed saltwater to encroach into the river鈥檚 Gulf mouth. At stake as a result is the drinking water supply for communities that draw from the river, like New Orleans and surrounding localities, and water treatment plants unequipped for saltwater influx, says Heath Jones, chief of emergency management at the Army Corp鈥檚 New Orleans District.
While not always as bad as this year,聽he says聽it鈥檚 a cyclical problem that聽this district observes about once a decade.聽
In studying the impacts of channel deepening, researchers at the Army Corps realized the need to construct a sill 鈥� an underwater levee, as Mr. Jones describes it 鈥� designed to obstruct saltwater intrusion. Due to the density of saltwater, the underwater barrier essentially creates a bridge to move freshwater.
鈥淲ithout the sill there, there would be a threat鈥� to communities鈥� drinking water, Mr. Jones says.
But combating nature鈥檚 cycles remains a learning process, he adds. 鈥淓very time we have these events, we get more empirical data that says we鈥檙e doing this right, or we could improve on it.鈥�
Part of that learning process is understanding historical trends.
Upmanu Lall, an engineering professor at Columbia University and the director of the university鈥檚 Water Center, worries that the race to combat climate change clouds that process.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a double-edged sword,鈥� he says.
On one hand, the urgency around climate change is vital for the public鈥檚 future.聽On the other, climate alarmism has the potential to distract from basic preparation activities.
鈥淚f you look at the spending on climate change, it鈥檚 all directed toward decarbonization, which is important,鈥� Dr. Lall says. 鈥淏ut even if we successfully decarbonize, these extreme climate events happen 鈥� and we still do not have enough of a strategy to do something about them.鈥�
Dr. Lall points to the drinking water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, as an example of how underinvesting in infrastructure exacerbates the impacts of extreme weather that scientists attribute partly to the effects of human-caused climate change.
For decades Jackson鈥檚 tax base withered, and chronic underinvestment allowed the city鈥檚 public drinking water system to fall into disrepair. In recent years, boil water notices became a norm for residents. This past summer, severe flooding impacted Jackson鈥檚 water system鈥檚 pumps. The pumps failed, leaving Jackson residents without safe drinking water for weeks.聽聽
In the end, Dr. Lall, whose academic research on the impacts of global warming dates back more than four decades, worries climate change took more blame than the city鈥檚 aging infrastructure.
鈥淭he reason this becomes a problem is that we lose sight of the fact that there鈥檚 a bunch of things that we need to be paying attention to that are not necessarily climate related,鈥� he says.
鈥淲e are not doing that.鈥�
Last week, the U.S. Justice Department won for a third-party manager to oversee reforms to Jackson鈥檚 water system.
鈥淗opefully that helps raise awareness鈥�
There are only so many ways technology can control the Mississippi River, researchers admit.
To combat traffic jams along the river鈥檚 shipping lanes, the Army Corp of Engineers has begun dredging parts of the river, effectively deepening sections to allow for barges to travel through.
However, the options for how to alleviate the situation largely end there. Without rain, that is. The good news is that in recent days some replenishment from rainfall has occurred, notably in the key area around Memphis. While water levels are still far from typical, they are now more than 10 feet higher than in mid-October 鈥� which saw lows .
If there鈥檚 anything to be gained, Professor Willson hopes it鈥檚 clarity for the public on what the Mississippi River means for a functioning society. He hopes that the river鈥檚 recent struggles allow the opportunity for more to understand the river鈥檚 power. Not just from an extreme weather point of view, such as those who venture out to its banks after heavy rainfall to witness the mighty river鈥檚 flow. But from the understanding that the river is a binding force globally.
鈥淗opefully that helps raise awareness and people鈥檚 understanding of the importance of the river,鈥� Professor聽Willson says.
