GULF OF MEXICO 



569 



PEARL RIVER AREA (12) 



The Pt'arl River Area includes drainage from 

 parts of Mississippi and Louisiana and fronts on 

 the Gulf between Bay St. Louis and a point 5 

 miles west of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad 

 Bridge crossing the Rigolets. Population is 

 sparse. Principal population and industrial cen- 

 ters are Bogalusa and Franklinton, Louisiana, 

 which are located inland. Industrial operations 

 include production of naval stores and other chem- 

 ical products, pulp and paper, primary metals 

 and processed foods. A number of oil and gas 

 fields are located in the lower part of the drainage 

 basin. 



Waters of Mississippi Sound and Lake Borgne 

 are used extensively for sport fishing, bathing, 

 boating, and other recreation. They are also 

 fished commercially for fin fish, shrimp, and 

 oysters. 



There are no sewered municipalities on the Gulf 

 coast in this area. Bogalusa, with a sewered pop- 

 ulation of 10,000, discharges untreated sewage to 

 the Pearl River about 50 miles above the mouth. 

 Industrial wastes of various kinds are discharged 

 at Bogalusa, Franklinton, and Picayune. Al- 

 though pollution occurs upstream in the water- 

 courses, no shellfish areas downstream are closed 

 to commercial fishing. Effects upon other re- 

 sources of the Gulf are unknown. 



LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER AREA (13) 



The Lower Mississippi River Area includes the 

 section south of Baton Rouge that is bounded on 

 the east by the Pearl River Basin and on the west 

 by the East Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee 

 southward to Morgan City and from this point 

 southward to Atchafalaya Bay. Because of levees 

 no appreciable surface drainage reaches the Mis- 

 sissippi River. Drainage east of the Mississippi 

 River and north of New Orleans drains to the 

 Gulf tlu'ough Lake Pontchartrain. Drainage west 

 of the Mississippi is away from the river and 

 southerly to the Gulf. 



The water of the Mississippi entering the area 

 already has passed through cycles of pollution and 

 recovery from distant sources of pollution. The 

 effects of such pollution upon the Gulf are not 

 significant. Drainage from erodible lands through 

 which the river flows already have given it, at this 

 point, an annual sediment load of one-half billion 

 tons. 



New Orleans is the chief population, industrial 

 and marketing center and also an important port. 

 Land use is principally agricultural. Petroleum 

 production and refining, chemical manufacture, 

 and processing of sugar, foods, seafood, menhaden, 

 cottonseed, and wood are principal industrial 

 activities. Fresh water resources are important 

 for public and industrial water supplies. The 

 coastal waters are used for sport fishing and other 

 recreation and are a rich source of sea food. 

 Chandeleur and Breton Sounds and Barataria 

 Bay are fished extensively for shrimp. Much of 

 the coastal area along the delta and westward is 

 swampland cut by complicated sluggish water- 

 courses. Large areas are set aside as wildfowl 

 refuges, but the swamplands also serve ' as rich 

 muskrat trapping grounds. 



Of 15 sewered municipalities in the area, 5 dis- 

 charge sewage without treatment. The largest is 

 New Orleans, with a sewered population of 582,000, 

 which pumps the sewage to the Mississippi River. 

 The others are the following: 



Sewered 

 Municipality: population 



Plaquemine 5, 740 



St. Bernard Sewage District 



Donaldson ville 4, 500 



Gretna 11, 000 



Three other municipalities have sewage treat- 

 ment facilities that are inadequate: 



Seivered 

 Municipality: population 



Houma 10,000 



Covington 3, 500 



Slidell 2,000 



At least 22 industrial plants discharge untreated 

 wastes. Among them are at least 19 sugar plants 

 distributed in the area. Pollution prevention 

 measures are in operation at an oil refinery up- 

 stream at Baton Rouge and at Norco (Anony- 

 mous 1951b). 



Because of large quantities of dilution water 

 serious effects of pollution are principally localized 

 near concentrations of industry. No shellfish 

 areas are closed to commercial fishing because of 

 pollution. 



ATCHAFALAYA RIVER AREA (14) 



The Atchafalaya River Area includes the drain- 

 age southward from Lafayette and fronts on the 

 Gulf from Caillou Bay to Grand Chenier. The 

 lower parts of the Morganza and related floodway 

 systems drain through the area. Agriculture is a 



