There is no doubt that the 

 benefits from a diversion project 

 would be regional in nature and 

 accrue to local and regional 

 interests that are not directly 

 participating in the project. For 

 this reason, the concept of river 

 water diversion is broadly supported; 

 however, the institutional diffi- 

 culties at the local level have not 

 yet been resolved. The most common- 

 ly suggested approach to resolution 

 of the problem is for all interests 

 that will benefit from the project 

 to organize and provide some sort of 

 recompense to those that would be 

 adversely affected. This sort of 

 solution could be accomplished in a 

 number of ways. Currently, alterna- 

 tives for minimizing the adverse 

 impacts are being fully explored. 



SUMMARY 



Many problems and difficulties 

 must be overcome to achieve effectual 

 salinity alterations in the Louisiana 

 coastal zone. Because of the diffi- 

 culties in projecting finite impacts 

 and benefits, a pilot project should 

 be constructed which would afford 

 opportunity to collect and evaluate 

 extensive biological and water 

 quality data. The analysis of these 

 data would provide a means to modify 

 additional elements of the overall 

 plan. An aggressive approach must 

 be implemented to educate local 

 interests of the merits of freshwater 

 diversion and overcome institutional 

 problems . 



LITERATURE CITED 



Coastal Louisiana. Report No. 

 15. Baton Rouge, LA: Coastal 

 Resources Unit, Center for Wet- 

 land Resources, Louisiana State 

 University; 1972. 



U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New 

 Orleans District. Report on 

 Mississippi River flow require- 

 ments for estuarine use in 

 coastal Louisiana. Fish and 

 Wildlife Study of the Louisiana 

 Coast and the Atchafalaya 

 Basin; 1970; 28p. 



U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New 

 Orleans District. Plan of Sur- 

 vey, Louisiana Coastal Area; 

 1975; 58p. 



U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lower 

 Mississippi Valley Division, 

 Water Resources Development by 

 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

 in Louisiana; 1979; 205p. 



DISCUSSION 



Question : Dan Tabberer Fish and 

 Wildlife Service. Have your studies 

 progressed far enough to determine 

 what you will tie the fish and wild- 

 life benefits to, that is, what 

 physical parameters, like movement 

 of isohalines or reduction in marsh 

 deterioration, and, if so, what do 

 you plan to tie those benefits to? 



Answer: I'd like to pass that 

 question on to the next speaker, 

 he's more familiar with them. Are 

 you talking about the Mississippi- 

 Louisiana Estaurine Study, or both 

 of them? 



Becker, R. E. Measurement of coastal 

 Louisiana's shoreline. Hydro- 

 logic and Geologic Studies of 



Question : Either one. 



Answer : I guess a fair answer 

 to your question, Dan, is that I 

 don't know if we've progressed to 



374 



