Long Stretches of the Mississippi River Have Run Dry. What’s Next?

NYT OPINION: Long Stretches of the Mississippi River Have Run Dry. What’s Next?
By Laurence C. Smith
Section: Opinion
Source: New York Times
Published Date: November 27, 2022 at 02:00AM
There are no new rivers left to tap. We must learn to do more with less.

“Radical new thinking is the only way to make sure our rivers endure,” writes Laurence C. Smith. “The good news is that we are already reimagining what rivers can do — and what they can be.”

There are no new rivers left to tap. We must learn to do more with less.
A fishing boat along the Mississippi River outside of Lake Providence, La.Credit...Trent Bozeman for The New York TimesRadical new thinking is the only way to make sure our rivers endure. The good news is that we are already reimagining what rivers can do — and what they can be.

Because rivers deposit sand, plugging shipping channels and reservoirs, their power to move sediment is normally framed as a problem to be fixed by dredging. But in Louisiana, where coastal wetlands are disappearing rapidly, a roughly $2.2 billion proposal is advancing to divert part of the Mississippi River into Barataria Bay, where additional sediment can help protect it from rising sea levels.

Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/27/opinion/environment/mississippi-river-drought-colorado.html

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