NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has increased the diversion of Mississippi River water into the Atchafalaya Basin through the Old River Control structures to help Louisiana’s crawfish industry.The decision was made by Brig. Gen. Edwin J. Arnold, division engineer of the Corps’ Mississippi Valley Division in Vicksburg, Miss., at the request of Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster.
“Although the diversion aids the crawfish industry, only more rain and more water coming downriver can provide all the water needed to maximize the crawfish harvest,” Arnold said.
“This is the most water we can divert at this time and still maintain a stable relationship between the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers,” Arnold said
Three million people are depending upon the present channel of the Mississippi River.The problem is that the Mississippi is on the verge of switching to a new channel along what is now the Atchafalaya River.