CORALLING THE RIVER: CORPS PROJECTS SAVE VALUABLE LAND

A 70-year-old Mississippi River Commission and Army Corps of Engineers project has paid big dividends for residents and land along the Lower Mississippi River Valley.

The Mississippi River and Tributaries Project, established in 1928 following the devastating flood of 1927, has prevented approximately $226 billion in flood damages.

The project includes levees, floodwalls, reservoirs, channel stabilization and other flood-control features along the lower Mississippi, which stretches from Cape Girardeau to the Gulf of Mexico.

During the latest flood this year, the project prevented flooding of 11.3 million acres -- 17,700 square miles -- throughout the 35,000-square-mile Lower Mississippi Valley.

The Mississippi, which starts at Lake Itasca in northwest Minnesota and flows for 2,340 miles to the Gulf of Mexico, gathers water from 41 percent of the United States. And each year, the Mississippi carries 230 million tons of sediment to coastal Louisiana and the Gulf.

The project, about 86 percent complete, is scheduled for completion in 2031, 104 years after it was initiated.

"This is one of the largest civil-works projects in history," said Jim Pogue of the Corps' Memphis District. "Since it was inaugurated, it has prevented about $226 billion in flood damages, for a total investment of $9.6 billion for construction, operations and maintenance.

The project was authorized following the 1927 flood, which inundated more than 27,000 square miles in the Lower Mississippi Valley, left more than 1 million people homeless, and resulted in damages of more than $1 billion.

This was during an era when the U.S. counted only 120 million people, less than half its 255 million population today.

Pogue said the mission of the Corps along the Mississippi is accomplished by two distinct programs:

-- The Mississippi River Commission focuses on the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project, flood-control and navigation plan for the vast valley.

-- The Mississippi Valley Division conducts the Corps' water-resource-development and environmental program not encompassed by the commission.

The programs and activities overseen by the two divisions are conducted out of district offices in St. Paul, Rock Island, St. Louis, Memphis, Vicksburg and New Orleans.

The programs' missions are to develop and maintain flood-control systems as well as enhance environmental resources.

The project was authorized by the 1928 Flood Control Act.

"More than 3,400 miles of levees have been constructed from Cape Girardeau to the Gulf," said Don Anderson of the Corps' Memphis District.

Currently, just over 300 miles of levees remain below the required grade. The original plan called for 3,114 miles of levee work.

One of the areas currently in need of improvement is the Commerce to Birds Point Levee in Southeast Missouri.

The Corp is making improvements to the levee, along with work on the St. Johns Levee and Draining District. Improvements are also scheduled to start this year on a Birds Point-New Madrid-St. Johns project, which will significantly improve flooding problems in Scott, New Madrid and Mississippi counties.

U.S. Sens. John Ashcroft and Christopher Bond and U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, all of Missouri, issued statements calling for levee improvements during the recent Mississippi River Commission public hearing at the Southeast Missouri Regional Port.

The Corps has constructed more than 185 miles of dikes and stone structures along the river to confine water to the channel. Only 51 miles of dikework is needed to complete the 339 miles authorized in 1928.

A total of 1,023 miles of revetments have been completed, leaving 63 miles of bank protection to be done. Revetments consist of small concrete blocks joined together by wires placed on the bank of the river.

A great number of cutoffs -- loops along the river that have shortened the river distance by some 1,500 miles between Cape Girardeau and New Orleans -- have been constructed.

Other work conducted by the Corps includes stone structures -- 139 miles of the authorized 160 miles -- built parallel to the river banks to protect nearby levees from wave wash; dams, reservoirs and pumping plants in river tributaries; and dredging in the river to maintain navigable channels.