For more than three months, residents in south Plaquemines Parish didn’t have safe drinking water. The cause? Intruding salt water from the Gulf of Mexico caused by two years of back-to-back drought.
Approaching salt water spurred immediate precautions to protect drinking water in parishes further up the river, where the wedge is no longer a threat.
Meanwhile in Plaquemines, the only parish still impacted, the Coastal Desk’s Halle Parker found residents feel forgotten.
“We're neglected. I mean bar none,” said Jaime Taylor, who lives in Boothville. “It's just that simple.”
Background reading:
- St. Bernard Parish is no longer expected to be affected by the saltwater wedge, joining its upriver neighbors.
- Plaquemines’ Dalcour plant is the northernmost water intake where the level of salt in the Mississippi River is expected to exceed safe drinking levels.
- Check our saltwater wedge live blog for the latest updates, interviews with newsmakers and more.
