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In this episode, we explore a growing threat to our freshwater supplies in coastal regions all over the country. With climate change, we are experiencing sea-level rise and more frequent droughts, both of which make it easier for saltwater to creep into places we don’t want it.
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It’s the second year in a row that extreme drought has caused a shrinking channel, forcing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge later in the season than normal.
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The saltwater wedge slowly creeping up the Mississippi River is no longer threatening drinking water for Louisiana’s biggest metro area – but officials in Orleans and Jefferson parishes are moving forward with mitigation plans, in case forecasts shift yet again.
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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.
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Rainy weather is set to return to the Gulf Coast after an unusually dry hurricane season that’s contributed to crop failures, saltwater intrusion and record-breaking wildfires.
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St. Bernard Parish is no longer expected to be affected by the saltwater wedge moving up the Mississippi River, joining its upriver neighbors.
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says salt levels should be within the safe-drinking threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency when — and if — the wedge reaches New Orleans.
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According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ latest projections, released Thursday, the “saltwater wedge” isn’t forecast to reach New Orleans’ west bank until late November — a month later than earlier projections suggested.
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Exactly which steps schools will need to take — and when — is still unclear, as city, state and federal agencies race to get ahead of the saltwater wedge.
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Communities in southeastern Louisiana are bringing fresh water — by barge and by pipeline — to their local water treatment plants, to dilute the briny water brought in by the saltwater wedge.