The Effect Of Deepwater Damage On The Mississippi River

Flowing 2,350 miles from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River is the fourth longest river in the world with a watershed spanning thirty-one states and two Canadian Provinces (Mississippi River, n.d.). The Mississippi River provides a suitable habitat to many species because of its suspended-sediment flow regime. However, damaged caused to the river by human intervention has caused the sediment flow trends in the 19th and late 20th century to decline. In 1936 to 1950, the average amount of sediment transported annually was approximately 500 million tons for the Mississippi River (Holle, 1952). However, nowadays the lower Mississippi River transports approximately 150 million tons of sediment annually (Thorne, 2008). The increased changes in land-use, river management, and engineering during these centuries affected the quantity and quality of sediment obtained from the Mississippi River and its tributaries (Thorne, 2008). The alterations of human settlement and development have damaged
Restoration Principle number three states that to restore biodiversity and function it is crucial to restore aspects of the hydrological regime such as seasonal flooding, water table levels, and streamflow as historically accurate as possible. The restoration strategy should focus on allowing the river to flow naturally and use natural stabilizing techniques for the bank such as planting vegetation. Other goals include reducing riverbed degradation from dikes and allowing sediment to flow naturally down the Mississippi. The floodplains should be reintroduced and the dams should allow more water and sediment to flow through naturally. If the restoration strategy focuses on these goals, then the lower Mississippi Delta ecosystems should be restored, resulting in improved habitats, increased sediment flow, and riverbed