Today Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards attended a briefing with the Army Corps of Engineers, parish officials, and his homeland security and emergency preparedness team, on the salt water that is creeping up the bottom of the Mississippi River.
"The primary message that I want to share today is that this is a serious situation," said Edwards.
The Corps of Engineers, is raising the sill, or underwater barrier, to slow the salt intrusion, but they cannot raise it enough to block it completely without affecting navigation on the river.
Corps officials said the salt wedge could affect the Belle Chasse water treatment facility as soon as October 13. It would reach St. Bernard Parish's facility on October 19, the Sewerage & Water Board's Algiers intake by October 22, Gretna on October 24, the West Jefferson treatment plant on October 25, SWBNO Carrollton plant by October 28, and the East Jefferson plant on October 29.
The Corps will be bringing fresh water by the barge load from upriver, to feed the various water treatment systems and keep the salinity levels at manageable levels. A Corps officials said the plan is to have a continuous run of barges.
Gov. Edwards also addressed reports of people panic-buying bottled water.
"It is not necessary to go and buy large amounts of bottled water at the store," said Edwards, who admits he was a little worried about that saying that because he said the same thing about buying toilet paper when the pandemic began.
"How many times did we tell people, 'you don't need to go and stock up on toilet paper?' And the more they were told that, the more they heard 'I better go and get some toilet paper,'" said Edwards.
The difference here, he said, is that this is a localized problem, not nationwide, so stores should not have trouble ordering more water, but Edwards also said we need to be considerate and not engage in panic-buying.
The governor also said homeowners can help reduce the burden on freshwater systems by not watering lawns, despite the drought.
