Bonnet Carre Spillway closing on 11th day of operation, U.S. Army Corps says
The New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Monday that it will begin closing the Bonnet Carré Spillway as the flow rate of the Mississippi River slows down.
Assessments along the river will continue because it is still high in the New Orleans area, where a spillway opening prevents flooding.
The spillway opened April 3, to the consternation of Mississippi officials worried about what damage it might do to aquatic life in the Mississippi Sound unaccustomed to the lower salinity levels that accompany high volumes of polluted river water.
Since it opened, the spillway has released up to 80,000 cubic feet per second of river water into Lake Pontchartrain and the Missisissippi Sound beyond.
The USACE is beginning to shut down the spillway on its 11th day of operation this year.
The river has fallen below the trigger opening rate of 1.25 million cubic feet per second. However, the river remains elevated in the New Orleans area so the USACE will continue flood inspections along the levees.
Joe Spraggins, executive director the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, said he expected damage in the Mississippi Sound to be limited as long as the spillway closed by the end of April.
This is the third year in a row the spillway has opened, which has never happened before. In 2019, the spillway opened for an unprecedented second year in a row and also opened twice — for a record-setting 123 days total — decimating oyster beds in the sound and harming other aquatic life.
This story was originally published April 13, 2020 at 2:46 PM.
