Doomed

This morning, The Advocate picked up this article which ran at The Lens last week about how the lack of a comprehensive plan for inter-state management of the Mississippi River threatens Louisiana's efforts to combat land loss at its delta.

While some rivers, most notably the Colorado, have long been subject to legal agreements parceling out water to its users, the Mississippi has been left to a laissez-faire style of management: Each state takes what it wants as the river flows inside its borders.

That lack of oversight, long an economic concern for southeast Louisiana, is growing into a mortal fear due to this scientific consensus: The region’s only hope of staying above the 4.3 feet of sea level rise expected by century’s end is to get the river’s fresh water and sediment back into the region’s sinking marshes.

That means the river’s water and sediment are now considered life-saving resources. And having 30 different, self-interested management plans preceding Louisiana’s needs could be a prescription for disaster, coastal scientists say.

So, in large part, developing a plan to use river diversions to save coastal Louisiana will involve establishing consensus policy from among powerful industry groups in oil and gas, shipping, and agriculture, operating in 31 states not to mention satisfying the needs of cities up and down the river who depend on it for municipal  water supply. Piece of cake, right?