The Mississippi River is incredibly low for the second year in a row.
This threatens both the country’s international supply chain and national drinking water access.
Authorities are battling against Mother Nature to try to keep the freshwater flowing.
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A long stretch of drought in the Midwest has caused the Mississippi River to drop to abnormally low levels. It’s the second year in a row the river has dipped so low.
The low river threatens cargo ships that carry 60% of all grains produced in the US. It also jeopardizes access to drinking water for many Louisiana residents.
In other words, it’s a serious problem.
Mississippi barges, like this one seen from the St.Louis arch, transport more than half of our country’s grain exports.
Visions of America/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
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“It is the most important working river on Earth,” Colin Wellenkamp, the executive director of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, said in a town meeting per the Associated Press.
Problem 1: supplies of corn, wheat, and soy are in peril
The Mississippi River is a crucial route for farmers trying to move their corn, wheat, and soy across the country, which is especially important right now because it’s harvest season.
Shipping crops on the Mississippi River is ideal because it’s low-cost, efficient, and can handle huge amounts of cargo at a time. Just 15 barges lashed together can carry as much cargo as about 1,000 trucks, the AP reported.
But the river’s low levels are causing delays. It’s forcing barges to lighten their loads so they carry less cargo. It’s also narrowing the river, causing barge backups, per the AP.
The Dredge Potter, owned and operated by the St. Louis District US Army Corps of Engineers.
USACE
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These delays have sent costs of cargo transport skyrocketing up 77% from the past three-year average, per the AP.
“Economically it’s tough because you don’t want to rule out one of the modes of transportation for exports,” Lou Dell’Orco, chief of operations and readiness at the US Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District, told Insider.
Keeping ships running
The absolute minimum that barges need to drift down the river is 9 feet deep and 300 feet wide. The first line of defense in keeping water levels up is vacuuming.
USACE workers operate boats, called dredges, that slurp up debris from the river bed and sift through the material, sending the water back into the river and the flotsam to a disposal site.
Dell’Orco said that right now the St.Louis district of USACE has two dredges running 24/7 in the St. Louis region, which is a crucial chokepoint for the river. The region brought in two more dredges from other districts to help out.
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Though it’s normal to have some dredges operating 24/7 during this season, last year they had to mobilize far more dredges than normal to keep the river deep enough. This year looks like it will be more of the same, Dell’Orco said.
Right now, Dell’Orco said they’re staying on top of the issue, and keeping the river running. But what they’re all hoping for is rain.
“With this current hit it looks like we’re OK beyond almost the middle of October. The goal is to keep looking until we can get the harvest out,” he said.
Louisiana’s Governor, John Bel Edwards asked President Joe Biden for federal help in keeping the salt creeping into the Mississippi at bay.
Kevin Dietsch/Staff/Getty Images
Problem two: Louisiana’s drinking water is at stake
An estimated 18 million people get their drinking water from the Mississippi.
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When the Mississippi river is low, its flow decreases. When its flow decreases, saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico begins to creep up into the river, which contaminates drinking water.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards addressed a letter to President Joe Biden, asking for federal intervention to stymie the effects of the encroaching saltwater, which Biden approved on Wednesday.
The saltwater invasion has already affected farms, schools, and homes. For example, it’s contaminated the drinking water of roughly 23,515 residents in Plaquemines Parish where residents are advised to only drink bottled water.
Officials are supposed to bring in 15 million gallons of fresh water to treatment facilities in impacted areas, the AP reported.
Edwards emphasized that in the coming months, this problem could continue to head up the river, threatening more populous areas, like New Orleans.
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This graphic explains the augmentation the USACE is currently executing to try and slow the flow of salt water.
USACE, New Orleans
Slowing the saltwater’s invasion
Matthew Roe, with the New Orleans district of USACE, told Insider that it’s been working 24/7 since the 24th of September, trying to get ahead of the saltwater flow.
First, they’re using dredging, with the same technique as the St. Louis location, just with fewer boats. They’re using what they collect from the river bottom to help construct their second effort, sills.
Sills are long bars that sit along the river bed and can block out water flow from one direction to raise the water levels. The engineers are focusing on building on top of a sill that they placed in July.
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Adding another 15-feet to the top of that structure will hopefully delay the northwards flow of saltwater by 10-15 days without impeding the flow of traffic, Roe said.
These aren’t permanent solutions, but they buy local communities precious time to prepare to find alternate drinking water sources, Roe added.
“The sill is used to delay progression as it moves upriver to allow the state and local communities more time to coordinate their efforts for the residents in the area,” he told Insider via email.
Though efforts are Herculean, every engineer was aware that the force they were up against was formidable. “At some point, like last year, if Mother Nature decides she’s gonna win, she’s got a perfect record,” Dell’Orco said.
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.
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“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.”
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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_.
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.
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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.”
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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.
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“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.
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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_.
Sam Leavitt leads ASU to convincing victory in 1st career start
Leavitt and the Sun Devils cruised past visiting Wyoming 48-7 on Saturday night at Mountain America Stadium.
The Arizona State football team elevated its play on the field in its 48-7 win over Wyoming in Week 1.
It is elevating its uniform game for Week 2 against Mississippi State.
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ASU football is wearing a gold alternate jersey against the Bulldogs at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe on Saturday night.
The jersey includes maroon “Arizona State” lettering and maroon numbering, along with a noticeable Big 12 logo.
The Sun Devil football team unveiled the uniform last month, with Athletic Director Graham Rossini posting that “you’ll see this on the field early this season.”
On Thursday, ASU football announced that it would be wearing the uniform against Mississippi State with a video that said “Modern shine, with a classic design.”
On Friday, it posted another look at the uniform.
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More: Arizona State vs Mississippi State live score updates, analysis for college football game
ASU vs Mississippi State schedule, TV: How to watch college football game
Promising look: Arizona State football’s 2024 win prediction doubles after Week 1 victory over Wyoming
Social media reacted favorably overall to ASU football’s uniform vs Mississippi State:
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Looking promising: Arizona State football makes huge leap in college football ranking, Big 12 power rankings
Reach Jeremy Cluff atjeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter@Jeremy_Cluff.
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