2019 Mississippi River

[BananaHammock]

Baton Rouge, just through the Atchafalaya. Or everything will shift to the Port of Houston. There is literally 200 ships awaiting to go to port in a Houston. At least triple the volume of what is anchored off of the Miss.

That’s only because a ship hit a barge and closed down the channel, Houston is busy but not 200 ships waiting busy. And they are still somewhat recovering from the channel being closed after the explosion a few weeks ago.

[cajun4life]

That’s only because a ship hit a barge and closed down the channel, Houston is busy but not 200 ships waiting busy. And they are still somewhat recovering from the channel being closed after the explosion a few weeks ago.

I’ll take a picture next time I fly over there. It is always more busy outside of the Houston ship channel.

The Miss River is easier to navigate though so the boats don’t stack up like they do outside of Galveston.

[BananaHammock]

I’ll take a picture next time I fly over there. It is always more busy outside of the Houston ship channel.

The Miss River is easier to navigate though so the boats don’t stack up like they do outside of Galveston.

I don’t need a picture, I’m well aware of how busy each port is. And I apologize if I’m coming off arrogant, because that’s not my intent, but they both have their own challenges and perks.

NOLA is the bigger in terms of tons moved but Houston is bigger in terms of foreign trade/vessels. The Mississippi River being easier to navigate is not necessarily the reason for vessels not stacked up or stacked up. It’s actually easier for 2 vessels to pass in the River than Houston but high water levels can contribute to logistics issues with barges, etc.... that can cause vessels to be delayed and anchored up offshore.

Port of Houston as a whole takes up much less real estate (on the water) than the River does so congestion happens in that manner. NOLA is actually part of the Port of South Louisiana which covers a lot of area on the river and many more docks, places of load/discharge, etc.... Houston moves more containers and more general cargo which takes longer to load/discharge than the mostly bulk cargo on Miss River.

[mahtoo]

info relative to Red River Landing (RRL) gage and Morganza Control Structure
RRL gage located at Mile 302.4 on right descending bank (RDB), approx 10-12 miles below Old River
RRL historical high reading 63.39 on 5/18/2011
RRL on 5/14/2019 was 60.8

Consideration for opening Morganza (mile 280) when flow at RRL is 1.5 million cfs and rising. Used to also require a gage reading at RRL to be 58 and rising. Not sure if that is still a parameter that is considered not that it was considered on its own since the reading this morning was 60.8.
Morganza designed to handle 600,000 cfs max.

For reference with respect to Morganza:
5/14/2011 first 2 gates opened
5/18/2011 last of gates opened. 17 total open
5/24/2011 first gate closed
6/27/2011 lost hydraulic connection between forebay and Miss R
6/29/2011 one gate left open to drain forebay
6/30/2011 3 gates reopened to facilitate draining
7/01/2011 2 gates reopened for draining (6 total remain open)
7/07/2011 last 6 gates closed

ORCS complex including Sydney Murray Hydro plant, overbank structure, low sill structure, auxilary structure, Old River Lock.....upstream to downstream approx river miles 316.6 to 303.7

[mahtoo]

They do have the Caernarvon and Davis Pond Diversions at about mile 84 of the Mississippi river but it flows less than 1000 cfs. A drop in the bucket. From what I understand, the oyster fishermen protested and they cut back on the flow. They could be building much more land than they are now but they have to "Study" it some more.

There is a connection to the river with an outfall just east of St. Charles that would provide plenty of fresh water and sediments to the area immediately south of New Orleans. Google Earth images show lots of sediment entering that area. I don't know what the name of that facility is. Maybe Mahtoo can shed some light.

Forgot to respond to your post
Davis Pond at Mile 118.4, approx 15 mile upstream of NO. It is east of the 310 bridge and St Charles, across the river from St Rose. Designed for 10,650 cfs max, 1,000 cfs min. On the RDB.

Caernarvon at mile 81.5, approx 15 mile downstream of NO, near the Plaquemines/St Bernard parish line. Designed for 8,000 cfs max, 500 cfs min.

Bonnet Carre Spillway designed for 250,000 cfs max, approx 25-30 miles upstream of NO on LDB between Norco and Montz

[HelmutVII]

info relative to Red River Landing (RRL) gage and Morganza Control Structure
RRL gage located at Mile 302.4 on right descending bank (RDB), approx 10-12 miles below Old River
RRL historical high reading 63.39 on 5/18/2011
RRL on 5/14/2019 was 60.8

Consideration for opening Morganza (mile 280) when flow at RRL is 1.5 million cfs and rising. Used to also require a gage reading at RRL to be 58 and rising. Not sure if that is still a parameter that is considered not that it was considered on its own since the reading this morning was 60.8.
Morganza designed to handle 600,000 cfs max.

For reference with respect to Morganza:
5/14/2011 first 2 gates opened
5/18/2011 last of gates opened. 17 total open
5/24/2011 first gate closed
6/27/2011 lost hydraulic connection between forebay and Miss R
6/29/2011 one gate left open to drain forebay
6/30/2011 3 gates reopened to facilitate draining
7/01/2011 2 gates reopened for draining (6 total remain open)
7/07/2011 last 6 gates closed

ORCS complex including Sydney Murray Hydro plant, overbank structure, low sill structure, auxilary structure, Old River Lock.....upstream to downstream approx river miles 316.6 to 303.7

wow about 2.5 feet from 2011 high. the link below is for Knox Landing, it's gone up about 2.0ft on 6 days.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/la/nwis/u...20,63160,00060

[HelmutVII]

Forgot to respond to your post
Davis Pond at Mile 118.4, approx 15 mile upstream of NO. It is east of the 310 bridge and St Charles, across the river from St Rose. Designed for 10,650 cfs max, 1,000 cfs min. On the RDB.

Caernarvon at mile 81.5, approx 15 mile downstream of NO, near the Plaquemines/St Bernard parish line. Designed for 8,000 cfs max, 500 cfs min.

Bonnet Carre Spillway designed for 250,000 cfs max, approx 25-30 miles upstream of NO on LDB between Norco and Montz

In my opinion Davis pond should be more like Bonnet Carre with a constant higher outflow than current volumes. It would do more to build land to the south of New Orleans.

[mahtoo]

In my opinion Davis pond should be more like Bonnet Carre with a constant higher outflow than current volumes. It would do more to build land to the south of New Orleans.

A Bonnet Carre type structure would definitely result in higher sediment load transfer but would most certainly would result in effects to salinity levels beyond what was agreed to between all agencies involved during planning. I don't remember what the controlling salinity levels are but if you look at operations reports you can see Davis Pond and Caernarvon are operated at the lower design levels a majority of the time, at least they were the last time I looked.

[mahtoo]

wow about 2.5 feet from 2011 high. the link below is for Knox Landing, it's gone up about 2.0ft on 6 days.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/la/nwis/u...20,63160,00060

https://forecast.weather.gov/product...n=1&glossary=0

Site for 30 day forecast that I visit. I page down and look at the last 8 columns.

Greensburg (I believe)
Vicksburg
Natchez
Red River Landing
Baton Rouge
Donaldsonville
Reserve
New Orleans

[HelmutVII]

A Bonnet Carre type structure would definitely result in higher sediment load transfer but would most certainly would result in effects to salinity levels beyond what was agreed to between all agencies involved during planning. I don't remember what the controlling salinity levels are but if you look at operations reports you can see Davis Pond and Caernarvon are operated at the lower design levels a majority of the time, at least they were the last time I looked.

They obviously like their oysters more than the land they live on because there is no way they are replacing 1.0 to 1.5 centimeters per year subsidence with those flow rates. Pretty short sighted in my opinion.

[Boomer]

The number one criteria for deciding whether or not to open up a spillway is if keeping the spillways closed will cause damage to the levees along the river. If the levees are damaged then we will have a serious problem on our hands.

.....I had read/heard that the water eats away the grass on the levies and this allows them to weaken....how do the levies actually get weakened for breaking? I hope this is not too boring for you, but inquisitive minds hope for the dumbest minds at times!!!

[CajunEXPRESS]

They obviously like their oysters more than the land they live on because there is no way they are replacing 1.0 to 1.5 centimeters per year subsidence with those flow rates. Pretty short sighted in my opinion.

Is the river destined to go through the old river structure regardless of man's effort. Naturally we’re reminded of how puny we are with things like yellow stone super volcano likely to destroy 2/3 of the lower 48 at any given moment. Already thousands of years overdue.