Building a series of new sediment-diversion structures the lower Mississippi River delta that would be opened during floods to "pulse" large volumes of sediment into eroding parts of southern Louisiana would be an excellent and worthwhile use of limited federal dollars, a group of engineers and coastal scientists said in a report issued in mid-April.
The Mississippi River Delta Science and Engineering Special Team, which produced the report, said that careful engineering of a multibillion-dollar diversion plan would help ensure that the government's ongoing efforts on flood control and maintaining navigation on the lower Mississippi would be enhanced, not hurt.