2019 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 124
BY SENATOR LAMBERT
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To urge and request the United States Army Corps of Engineers to consider additional water
diversion projects to help manage high water issues on the Mississippi River in
addition to the large scale water diversion projects such as the Bonnet Carré and
Morganza spillways.
WHEREAS, May 28, 2019, marked the one hundred forty-fourth consecutive day
with the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge at or above flood stage, breaking the record
established during the Great Flood of 1927; and
WHEREAS, the 1927 flood was the catalyst that prompted the construction of the
federal levee system for the Mississippi River; and
WHEREAS, these continuous high water marks on the Mississippi River have forced
the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and area levee districts into a
continuous flood-fight mode since late October; and
WHEREAS, the Bonnet Carré Spillway has been opened twice this year for a total
of fifty-nine days as of May 28, 2019, and three times in the last four years, to relieve
pressure on the New Orleans area levees; and
WHEREAS, these frequent extended openings of the Bonnet Carré Spillway have
diverted as much as two hundred thousand cubic feet per second of freshwater into Lake
Ponchartrain, negatively impacting saltwater fisheries, crab population, and oyster beds; and
WHEREAS, the planned opening of the Morganza Spillway could have a devastating
impact on people, property, and wildlife in the Atchafalaya Basin; and
WHEREAS, the National Weather Service's Lower Mississippi River Forecast
Center indicates that the current record-setting flood stage duration could last well into late
June, possibly even into July; and
WHEREAS, the continuous high water on the Mississippi River has increased river
currents, negatively affecting navigation and making marine commerce more dangerous; and
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WHEREAS, the continuous high water on the Mississippi is causing stress to the
levee system protecting millions of Louisianians; and
WHEREAS, the hypoxia, or bottom area of low oxygen, in Louisiana coastal waters
west of the Mississippi River known as the "Dead Zone" is approximately the size of
Delaware, measuring two thousand seven hundred twenty square miles; and
WHEREAS, additional, smaller, more consistent, controlled, and predictable
diversion would reduce the need of resorting to such drastic measures as opening the Bonnet
Carré and Morganza spillways; and
WHEREAS, implementing multiple mid-range diversion from the Mississippi River
between Baton Rouge and New Orleans could alleviate the stress on Louisiana's levee
system, assist marine navigation by decreasing river currents during high water events, and
restore wetlands with sediment currently carried off the Continental Shelf.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
request the United States Army Corps of Engineers to consider additional water diversion
projects to help manage high water issues on the Mississippi River in addition to the large
scale water diversion projects such as the Bonnet Carré and Morganza spillways.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Colonel Michael Clancy, New Orleans District Commander, United States Army Corps of
Engineers.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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