"Saltwater moving up the Mississippi River is threatening drinking water supplies in Plaquemines Parish, triggering a plan by the Army Corps of Engineers to build an underwater levee in the channel.

It is also forcing the parish to lease special equipment to remove chloride -- salt -- from river water when it is treated in Boothville and East Pointe a La Hache.

The Corps announced Wednesday that construction will begin in three weeks on what could be a 45-foot-tall underwater sill. That sill will block the "wedge" of saltwater from reaching Plaquemines' Belle Chasse and Dalcour water treatment plants, and from moving farther upriver to threaten New Orleans water intakes."

Mark Schleifstein reports for Nola.com September 28, 2022. [2]