ANNUAL LOW WATER INSPECTION INCLUDES HEARING AT CAIRO

Members of the Mississippi River Commission will conduct their annual low water inspection of the Mississippi River Monday through Sept. 16.

Four public meetings are scheduled aboard the vessel Mississippi so commission members can get feedback. Each meeting will begin at 9 a.m.

The dates and places for the meetings: Monday, Cairo, Ill., at the foot of Eighth Street; Tuesday, Memphis, Tenn., at the city front; Wednesday, Greenville, Miss., at the Corps of Engineers bank-grading and mat-loading facility; and Thursday, Morgan City, La., at the city front.

Each meeting will include a state of the valley report by the commission's president and presentations. Also, engineers with the Corps of Engineers will report on the river and tributaries project.

The commission, organized in 1879, is composed of seven members, each nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Three members are officers of the Corps of Engineers, one is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and three are civilians, two of whom are civil engineers.

General duties of the commission include recommendations of policy and work programs; the study of and reporting upon the necessity for modifications or additions to the flood-control and navigation project; and recommendations on any matter authorized by law and making inspection trips.

The commission's area of responsibility is from Cape Girardeau to the Gulf of Mexico. The commission usually inspects the river and holds public hearings twice each year -- in the spring during high water and in the fall during low water.

The purpose of the public hearings are to keep an exchange of viewpoints and ideas flowing from the public to the Corps. Presentations by the public are made orally, but a copy of the remarks should be presented to the commission for the official record.