St. Bernard Parish is no longer expected to be affected by the saltwater wedge moving up the Mississippi River, joining its upriver neighbors.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported this week that salt levels should remain within a range that is safe to drink when — and if — the wedge reaches the parish.
The Dalcour water plant, in Plaquemines Parish, is the northernmost water intake officials expect will see impacts from the wedge, according to the latest forecast. The dense layer of salt water is predicted to reach Belle Chasse, also in Plaquemines, on Nov. 13 and Dalcour five days later.
The wedge was previously forecast to reach the two intakes on Oct. 27 and Nov. 1 respectively.
Plaquemines Parish is already mixing fresh water, barged in from upriver, to dilute salt levels at treatment plants to the south, according to officials. The parish plans to do the same at Belle Chasse and Dalcour.
The wedge has been hovering at river mile 63.9 near Myrtle Grove, slowed by the Army Corps of Engineers’ newly heightened underwater barrier, or sill. It’s been there since rains in the Midwest strengthened the Red River’s flow into the Mississippi, and the Mississippi’s flow toward the Gulf — which pushed the wedge back five miles earlier this month.
Officials have stressed that the forecast could change and the wedge could move upriver more quickly as levels on the Red River fall.
