Mississippi
A salty problem for people near the mouth of the Mississippi is a wakeup call for New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The heating element removed from Monique Plaisance’s water heater in September was disintegrating, streaked with rust and covered in a dry crust. She blamed the corrosion on the water piped in from the area’s longtime drinking water source: the Mississippi River.
It was a similar story not far away at the Black Velvet Oyster Bar and Grill.
“We’re draining the hot water heater every few days to get most, or a good bit, of the salt out of that,” owner Byron Marinovich said. “The ice machine has been off since the third week of April.”
Plaisance’s home and Marinovich’s restaurant are in the Buras community of rural Plaquemines Parish, roughly 60 miles (about 96 kilometers) southeast of New Orleans and 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 kilometers) upriver from where the Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico. As in New Orleans, drinking water in the parish is drawn from the river.
But this year, the gulf pushed back. A wedge of salt water slipped up along the river bottom, beginning in the spring.
By early October, water intakes at towns such as Boothville, Port Sulphur and Pointe a la Hache had been inundated.
Plaquemines officials list a variety of measures to provide drinkable water to residents in the southeastern part of the parish, which juts into the gulf. Trucks of bottled water for drinking and barges full of fresh water to dilute the salt water before it goes into intakes are among the solutions.
Advisories against drinking tap water were lifted Oct. 18.
Plaisance and Marinovich are among residents who think remedial efforts began too late. They blame parish officials for not taking action until the water began posing a threat to more populated areas including the city of Belle Chasse, which is at the parish’s northernmost end and home to more than 10,000 people, roughly half the population of the mostly rural parish.
“We’ve been working on this since June the 19th,” Parish President Keith Hinkley said in a telephone interview. “We have not drug our feet. We moved as fast as we could in getting these projects up and running. We made a decision to get a water station, water plant, back up and running that had been down for two years. We got it back up in a position to start producing water in somewhere between six to eight weeks.”
Authorities cite multiple factors for the salt water intrusion. Most prominent this year has been a drought across the Midwest that has meant less water flowing into the Mississippi and the rivers feeding it.
At Vicksburg, Mississippi, north of New Orleans, the river flowed at a rate about 50% slower and at a stage height about 95% lower than normal during late September and early October between 2013 and 2022, according to analysis of data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Parts of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin — all part of the vast Mississippi River basin, which touches 31 states — are experiencing extreme drought conditions. Rainfall amounts are down in the watershed of the Ohio River, which contributes half of the Mississippi’s flow reaching new Orleans.
Another factor is dredging, according to Stephen Murphy, an assistant professor at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and the director of the university’s Disaster Management Program. The lower Mississippi is frequently dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make way for huge cargo ships serving ports vital to the Louisiana and national economies.
The lower, slower river flow and a deep, wide river channel set the stage for gulf water to push inland.
Earlier in the fall, projections that the salt water would reach the New Orleans area by late October prompted residents to stock up on bottled water while public officials undertook emergency preparations as though there were a slowly approaching hurricane.
In Jefferson Parish, next to New Orleans, officials began laying out flexible piping resembling giant fire hoses in a plan to pipe water from farther up the Mississippi to dilute the salt water.
New Orleans officials also were working on a plan to build an emergency pipeline. The hope was that much of the projected cost, as high as $250 million, would be covered by the federal government under a presidential emergency declaration issued in September.
Updated projections have negated the need for the measure. The more favorable river forecasts are a result of various factors, including the Corps’ construction of what amounts to an underwater dam in Plaquemines to impede salt water progress. Recent rains in western Louisiana also have been a factor.
While the threat to the New Orleans area has been diminished, local leaders say it’s a wake-up call.
“If this is what we’re going to be facing every couple of years, we certainly want to make an investment in how to solve this problem,” Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said.
This is the fifth year the Corps has built an underwater structure to slow the salt water flow. But this is the first time sill construction has been used in consecutive years. Before last year, others were built in 1988, 1999 and 2012.
Rising seas portend more problems. The sea level around New Orleans is rising at a rate of as much as 9 millimeters (0.35 inches) per year, or three feet (about 1 meter) each century, much higher than the global average and the highest rate measured in the United States, according to experts at NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services.
“My worry is we continue to experience these low river flow rates and have a repeat occurrence year after year after year. And at some point I worry that that salt water wedge could creep further upriver and then we would be finding ourselves in the same predicament upriver as we are right now in the city,” said Murphy, the assistant professor.
In the New Orleans area, permanent pipelines to draw water from upriver have been discussed. But Murphy doesn’t think pipelines are the solution.
Large-scale reverse osmosis filtration systems may be the answer, Murphy said. He pointed to Tampa Bay, Florida, as an example of where desalinization is used for drinking water and said Gulf Coast communities should collaborate to find ways to safeguard water systems.
It also may be time to hold regional meetings to discuss the threat, Murphy said.
“Maybe we should all start partnering together, much like we do for hurricane conferences,” he said. “Maybe we should be talking about climate change conferences.”
___
Smith reported from New Orleans and Buras, Louisiana. Associated Press reporters Mary Katherine Wildeman in Hartford, Connecticut, and Camille Fassett, in Seattle contributed to this report.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Outside of Mississippi State, Arkansas and Auburn, the SEC had a very successful Week Two of the college football season. The latest AP Top 25 poll reflects the strength of the SEC with 6 of the top 7 spots belonging to SEC teams.
Here’s a recap of how the ranked SEC teams fared in the second full week of the college football season:
Click here for a recap of the unranked SEC teams.
With the exception of giving up three points, this was probably exactly how Georgia expected this game to go. Carson Beck threw five touchdowns and the defense held Tennessee Tech to less than 150 yards of total offense. Anything less would be a surprise.
More than 100,000 people saw Texas come into Ann Arbor, Mich. and leave with a huge win. The Longhorns looked like the better team from the first drive of the game where they easily marched down the field. That Oct. 19 game in Austin against Georgia is looking better and better.
It was a lot closer than Alabama would’ve liked, but it’s a win that will fend off the “Nick Saban is gone, we’re doomed” crowd. At the same time, though, there were some things that crowd could point to at a later time.
Two games against inferior competition and Ole Miss has outscored its opponents 129-3. They’ll take a slight step up in competition next week against Wake Forest, but the Rebels are still about a month away from playing a team that will truly test them.
Missouri’s schedule just took an unexpected bump in its level of difficulty with No. 24 Boston College joining the top 25. Bill O’Brien is brilliant at game planning and calling plays (not so much with making trades, but that hasn’t reached the college ranks yet). Missouri needs to be on upset alert (and ready to stop the run).
This happens every year. Tennessee looks really good to start the season and by the end Volunteer fans are saying next year is their year. But maybe this year is their year with the way Nico Iamaleava has been playing.
Of the two SEC newcomers, Texas is getting most of the attention which makes sense based on the current teams. But folks, don’t sleep on the Sooners. They ruined many of my own childhood memories growing up in Texas. This week’s way-too close game doesn’t help that argument, but think long term.
LSU was one of three SEC teams to play FCS schools after playing top 25 teams last week. The Tigers and Texas A&M both lost, while Georgia won. So, it’s not surprising to see each of them play FCS teams and neither were any of the results.
SEC Week 2 Power Rankings: Which Teams Are Contenders or Pretenders?
WATCH: Mississippi State’s Bowl Hopes Take a Hit with Arizona State Defeat
Mississippi State Crumbles in the Trenches: What Went Wrong Against Arizona State?
Mississippi
Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo ‘disrespected’ by Mississippi State football’s defensive game plan
Cam Skattebo slammed Mississippi State on the football field on Saturday night and also took another jab afterward in his postgame press conference.
The Arizona State running back, following a 30-23 Sun Devils win at Mountain America Stadium, took exception to MSU only utilizing three defenders on the line of scrimmage. The results were damning.
Arizona State (2-0) rushed for 346 yards. It was the most allowed by Mississippi State (1-1) in a game since Arkansas in 2016. Skattebo’s 262 rushing yards on 33 carries were the second-most in ASU history.
“They couldn’t stop us in that three-down front,” Skattebo said when asked what made ASU’s run game successful. “Honestly, we all felt disrespected with them in a three-down front. You can’t come in here and put five guys in the box and expect to stop six. I don’t know. We took that a little disrespectful, and we rushed for what over 300 yards? Something around there. It is what it is.”
Skattebo, a 5-foot-11, 215-pound junior, also led Arizona State with 35 receiving yards on three catches.
“I knew these dudes were big and heavy,” he said. “We knew going into the game they weren’t as physical as most other teams but they’re heavy. So when they hit you, it hurts, no matter how hard they’re coming — 300 pounds at 10 miles per hour or 16 miles per hour hurts the same. I just kept my feet moving.”
Mississippi State trailed 30-3 in the third quarter but scored 20 unanswered points to cut the score to 30-23 with 5:27 to play. The Bulldogs never touched the ball again, with the Sun Devils running out the clock on 12 plays.
Skattebo had a game-sealing 39-yard rush that allowed ASU to kneel down.
“Until the end, we had our ups and downs there, but that was fun,” he said. “You can ask these guys up front, bullying dudes, grown men that are 300 pounds, that’s fun to us. That’s fun to the front-five, the front-seven and the running back. The quarterback probably hates it. He probably likes watching, but he didn’t complain one time the whole game.”
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
Mississippi
Why Mississippi State football loss to Arizona State revealed a strong Jeff Lebby culture
It was 11:10 p.m. Saturday in Starkville when Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt barreled into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game.
At that point, it would’ve been fair for Mississippi State football fans to call it a night. The Bulldogs (1-1) trailed 27-3 at ASU in the final minute of the second quarter. They were dominated in just about every statistical category. New coach Jeff Lebby looked like he was headed toward his first loss, and an embarrassing one.
And even if you gave the second half a chance, eyes just a crack open, that wasn’t encouraging either. Arizona State (2-0) took the opening drive of the third quarter for a field goal while eating 8 minutes, 27 seconds of game time. That just about decided the game before Mississippi State touched the ball in the second half.
Wrong.
Instead, MSU scored touchdowns on three of its next four drives and cut the score to 30-23 with 5:27 to play. The defense, which was torched for 346 rushing yards, needed one more stop to let the offense try to tie it. It would’ve been the largest comeback in program history.
Mississippi State’s path to a bowl game seems murkier than it was a week ago. But in the long-term, there’s still encouragement after the 30-23 loss.
“Our guys battled in an incredible way in the second half, and we’re going to hold on to that,” Lebby said in his postgame radio interview. “We’re going to find ways to get back in the building, get back to work and be able to walk into Davis Wade (Stadium) with a ton of confidence and ready to go win a football game.”
The encouragement from Mississippi State’s comeback effort
Lebby said after beating Eastern Kentucky 56-7 in Week 1 that there is an abundance of teachable moments in wins, just like losses.
There is plenty to point to after losing to Arizona State.
Mississippi State came out incredibly flat. The Sun Devils scored on their first five possessions. The MSU offense had one field goal, two punts, a fumble returned for a touchdown and a turnover-on-downs in the first half. MSU had -13 rushing yards in the first half.
There were concerns entering the game about the travel distance, late kickoff and high temperature. But let’s be real, Mississippi State was playing so poorly at the start that it was hard to judge if those were factors.
“I got to do a better job getting these guys ready to go play out of the gate,” Lebby said. “I thought our energy, our effort and our emotion was really good, but then we did not play clean there in the first quarter, so that part was frustrating.”
The Bulldogs outscored the Sun Devils 20-0 in the final quarter and a half. It was a surprise. Arizona State was rolling. Mississippi State was not.
MORE: Introducing Sam Sklar, the Clarion Ledger’s new Mississippi State beat reporter
For Lebby, a first-time head coach at any level, let it be a learning moment for him. It was his first time getting pinned in a corner. The Bulldogs adjusted correctly in the second half like good coaches do.
The rushing offense and defense both need to improve. Badly. Quarterback Blake Shapen has been impressive in his first two Mississippi State games and the wide receiver room is deep and talented as ever, but they can’t be the only answer.
That’s just for this season.
Mississippi State has its first tally in the loss column. But it isn’t a strike against Lebby leading the future of the program.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23249791/VRG_ILLO_STK001_carlo_cadenas_cybersecurity_virus.jpg "Researchers say a bug let them add fake pilots to rosters used for TSA checks")
Researchers say a bug let them add fake pilots to rosters used for TSA checks
Netanyahu blasts 'Iran's axis of evil' after Jordan border terror attack kills 3 Israelis
House GOP releases scathing report on Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan
Alzheimer’s risk may increase with light pollution, new study finds
Lions pull off thrilling overtime win over Rams behind breakout game from Jameson Williams
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
At least 2 dead as tornadoes hit Alabama, damage homes across Southeast
House GOP releases scathing report on Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan
NATO members Latvia, Romania say Russian drones breached airspace
'Mr. Greedy,' a prolific penguin dad, has died at age 33
Elon Musk pledges support for Second Amendment: 'Tyrants' disarm the people
Paris Paralympics set records
-
Politics1 week agoTrump impersonates Elon Musk talking about rockets: ‘I’m doing a new stainless steel hub’
-
World1 week agoBrussels, my love? Is France becoming the sick man of Europe?
-
Politics1 week agoHarris says no regrets about defending Biden fitness for office
-
World1 week agoLocals survey damage after flooding in eastern Romania
-
World1 week agoWhy is Belgium struggling to name a European Commissioner?
-
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(722x354:724x356)/Angelina-jolie-becomes-maria-callas-100923-01-2cce48d3de044c459234fd2c2ef1e0d7.jpg "'Maria' Reviews: What Critics Are Saying About Angelina Jolie's Transformation and Singing as the Opera Diva")
Movie Reviews1 week ago'Maria' Reviews: What Critics Are Saying About Angelina Jolie's Transformation and Singing as the Opera Diva
-
World7 days agoTaiwan court orders release of ex-Taipei mayor arrested in corruption probe
-
Politics1 week ago'For election purposes': Critics balk at Harris' claim she will 'enforce our laws' at southern border