is Federal and $7,500,000 is non-fed- 

 eral (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

 1979). 



In addition to the Mississippi 

 Delta Region project, the New Orleans 

 District is conducting two ongoing 

 studies which involve providing 

 fresh water to coastal Louisiana in 

 the interest of improving the wild- 

 life and fisheries resources. These 

 studies are entitled "Louisiana 

 Coastal Area" and "Mississippi and 

 Louisiana Estuarine Areas." 



The purpose of the Louisiana 

 Coastal Area study is to review re- 

 ports on coastal area projects to 

 determine the advisability of im- 

 provements, or modifications to ex- 

 isting improvements, for hurricane 

 protection, prevention of saltwater 

 intrusion, preservation of fish and 

 wildlife, prevention of erosion, and 

 related water resource purposes. The 

 study area is shown in Figure 2. In 

 support of the overall study effort, 

 a number of broad-scope investiga- 

 tions were conducted to provide basic 

 information concerning the vegeta- 

 tion, water and soil characteristics 

 of the coastal area, the hydrological 

 and geological characteristics and 

 trends, and management and structural 

 approaches to solving problems in the 

 coastal area. A fish and wildlife 

 investigation conducted by the dis- 

 trict with participation of an inter- 

 agency group identified tentative 

 optimum salinity gradients for the 

 fish and wildlife resources, the 

 quantity and cyclic amount of supple- 

 mental fresh water required to obtain 

 the desirable salinity gradients, and 

 investigated potential diversion 

 sites. The study concluded that 

 freshwater diversion is feasible and 

 that further studies should be un- 

 dertaken to determine the economics 

 and overall justification of the di- 



version measures. Preliminary evalu- 

 ations are underway for 17 potential 

 diversion sites along the Mississippi 

 Rvier to the Barataria Basin and 

 Breton Sound. 



The Mississippi and Louisiana 

 Estuarine Areas study will comprise 

 a review of the reports on the Mis- 

 sissippi River and tributaries flood 

 control project and other pertinent 

 reports prepared by the Corps, with a 

 view toward determining the advisa- 

 bility of providing freshwater into 

 Lakes Maurepas, Ponchartrain, and 

 Borgne, and Mississippi Sound to im- 

 prove wildlife and fisheries re- 

 sources. Figure 3 shows the study 

 area. Currently underway for this 

 study are reconnaissance investiga- 

 tions of 12 sites on the east bank of 

 the Mississippi River. 



TECHNICAL ASPECTS 



Actual experience with diver- 

 sions for the purpose of conservation 

 and enhancement of fish and wildlife 

 resources has been very limited. On 

 the east bank of the Mississippi 

 River, local interests have con- 

 structed and are operating three 

 small diversion projects. However, 

 the quantity of river flow diverted 

 by these projects is small and only 

 affects several hundred acres of the 

 estuarine-marsh area in the immediate 

 vicinity of the discharge points. 

 Very large diversions of water to 

 the estuaries to the east of the 

 river have occurred, but these diver- 

 sions were for the purpose of flood 

 control, as opposed to fish and wild- 

 life enhancement, and information on 

 them has only been documented to a 

 limited extent. The diversions in- 

 clude the 1927 artificial crevasses 

 of the Mississippi River levee at 



369 



