‘I’ll take water with my rice, but please hold the salt!’
A leak in a water control structure is allowing a constant flow of saltwater from Calcasieu Lake into the network of waterways used for irrigation by rice farmers in Cameron, Calcasieu and Jefferson Davis parishes.
LSU AgCenter County Agent Jimmy Meaux estimates that as much as 15,000 acres of rice could be at risk in the Mermentau Basin.
“Farmers in the area rely heavily on surface water to keep their rice fields flooded,” Meaux said. “Now they face the possibility of pumping salty water on their fields.”
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