Atchafalaya River Essay Example

The term "Atchafalaya" comes from "Choctaw," meaning Long River. This River is a distributary of Red and Mississippi Rivers located in south central Louisiana in the US. It is 220 kilometers making it the fifth largest river in North America. It is of geomorphic interest due to its hefty volume of water as well as sediments it transports. It is a significant floodway for Mississippi and a pathway at the Old River. People are connected in this river where it is heavily used for shipping and industries. Atchafalaya River is traversable, and therefore, ships can navigate to the state of Louisiana. Since the flooding of the year 1973, the U.S Army Corps decided to make Atchafalaya River navigable. A lock was fixed on the Old River to permit small tows and boats to traverse between Red, Atchafalaya and Mississippi Rivers. A bridge was constructed to allow automobiles to cross the lock canal as the hydropower plant was built at the Northern part of Low Sill dam. River Atchafalaya was blocked and forced to flow through this power plant. This river has remained to be significant to the U.S Army Corps of Engineers as a result of its natural development. The Corps and the flood control have looked up into isolating the river from the swamp known as Atchafalaya swamp which is located southern Louisiana close to the Gulf. The great raft was removed between 1839 and 1849 making the river the main Mississippi distributary. However, this paper seeks to discuss the Atchafalaya River and how it has changed over time.

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From the mid-1800s, changes have been experienced from Atchafalaya River. The volume of water has been increasing continuously until changes were made to divert and regulate the flow of water. In the year 1831, Captain Henry dug a canal (Shreve's cut) through the neck of Turnbull's Bend to reduce the travel time. The upper part of this Bend became the lesser Upper while the lower part became the larger Lower old river. Initially, the Lower Old River flowed eastwards until the locals removed the log jam obstructing Atchafalaya River making it flow this direction when Mississippi was low. The United States Army Corps of Engineers computed the volume of water flowing through River Mississippi and contrasted it to the amount of water getting into the Atchafalaya Basin. This was done by scrutinizing the latitude flow between the two rivers. In the year 1942, the course of Atchafalaya River was rerouted to the Mexican Gulf through the Wax Lake. During Mississippi flooding, the Old River would discharge about 20,000 cubic meters per second volume of water into Atchafalaya River. In case Mississippi was flowing freely, Atchafalaya would detain a significant flow making it bypass the present path through New Orleans and Baton Rouge. River Atchafalaya strolls south of Mississippi through floodways and levees. It goes past the City of Morgan and empties its water into the Gulf of Mexico in Atchafalaya Bay. By 1950, the latitude flow percentage getting into Atchafalaya River had raised from 10% to 30% (Geological Investigation of the Atchafalaya Basin and the Problem of Mississippi RiverDiversion, 1952)

Initially, the river was formed at the union of Red River and Mississippi near Simmesport. This is where an 11 kilometer canalized Old River joins Mississippi and Red River. The Old River is a system like a floodgate between Mississippi and Atchafalaya Basin. It is responsible for controlling the amount of water received by Atchafalaya River from River Mississippi. It is meant to regulate the water flowing from Mississippi to Atchafalaya River which helps in controlling the Mississippi River from altering its course. This structure was built and completed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the year 1963. It is a complex structure with overbank structures, unique low sill and supporting structures that were constructed after the Mississippi floods of the year 1973. Initially, Mississippi and Red Rivers were separate and less or more parallel to each other. At the beginning of the 15th Century, Mississippi River made a tiny westward oxbow loop known as Turnbull's Bend. This loop later crisscrossed the Red River resulting in a downstream known as Atchafalaya River. Since the alternate path to Mexican Gulf was short and steep, the U.S Army Corps recommended that by the year 1990, River Mississippi would have changed its course to River Atchafalaya in case it remained uncontrolled (Shepard, Francis, Phleger & Andel, 1995).

After the development of oxbow loop, River Atchafalaya turned out to be the significant outflow of River Mississippi. Later, this channel clogged as a result of excellent clog jam and thus preventing the water from Mississippi flow trickle out to the Mexican Gulf. The river looped back making the upper channel dry up as the lower channel (Old River) persisted in carrying the Red River. The local people were determined to burn the log jam found in River Atchafalaya after which the river started to carry a large volume of water from Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Atchafalaya River would turn to be the main channel of River Mississippi since it was 150 miles lesser to reach the Gulf. On the other hand, Mississippi would keep on changing its path portraying a great disaster for New Orleans, Baton Rouge as well as the petrochemical company located in the U.S. This led to the Army Corps come up with a mission to control the river from changing its course. They built an overbank structure comprising of the levee that would keep the two rivers separately. The spillway was constructed above the average level of the river to allow flood waters to get diverted down the Atchafalaya. The Old River was closed after the Low Sill project was over. The Low Sill dam would act as an overflow channel allowing the Army Corps to regulate the amount of water diverted from River Mississippi to Atchafalaya. All these changes were meant to maintain the 30 percent flow volume down Atchafalaya as 70 percent would flow down Mississippi. This worked until as scour hole developed at Low Sill dam making it collapse. The Army Corps came back and dumped rocked the dam to thwart it from falling off. Later, the flow was diverted and increased down River Atchafalaya to 35 percent (Piazza & Bryan, 2014)

U.S Army Corps of Engineers decided to reduce the number of water levels flowing past the city. This was done by dredging which split the flow of water and sediments between the river and Wax Lake Outlet. Over time this caused the emergence of Wax Lake Delta. The Atchafalaya Basin is the only basin in Louisiana that experienced land gain over a long period due to sediments from the river. However, this land encounters very many challenges such as subsidence, hurricanes and sea-level rise. The Atchafalaya River takes water to the Terrebonne basin, but when the river level is high, some of the water reaches the central part of the basin. The areas around Terrebonne basin have encountered land loss because the basin is mostly sediment and freshwater. Coastal communities are thus vulnerable to storms. Industries and vital infrastructure also remain prone to the hurricanes (Martinez & Haag, 1987).

The Atchafalaya Bay as a result of River Atchafalaya is unique since it experiences land gain rather erosion. However, human activities and natural sources have hindered the effectiveness of water flowing through this river. They have gone ahead cutting trees and building of structures and thus affecting the way in which sediments are deposited as well as excessive water retention. The river is heavily used for industries and shipping leading to alteration of water flows. This has led to the back swamp, and floodplains get disconnected from the river. The natural overflow of Atchafalaya River has been prevented from reaching the back swamp by the high river banks and its small distributaries. The river flows straight and faster and thus has no time to be filtered by wetlands. The massive flow of water in this river has led to a dam being constructed across Bayou Lafourche to prevent flooding. As a result, the construction of the dam led to cutting off of the fresh water flowing to the wetlands. Water stagnation has resulted in the development of a pumping plant that siphons water from the Atchafalaya River to Bayou Lafourche (Martinez, Joseph & Haag, 1987).

This Basin is one of the most crucial natural habitats in Louisiana. It has deep woods and fertile marshes which have been changed to essential habitats for about three hundred wildlife species and more than one hundred aquatic species with a diversity of inhabitant plants. It filters nutrients from the Mississippi River and therefore improving the quality of water as it gets discharged to the Mexican Gulf. The deltas such as Wax Lake and Atchafalaya Bay have been developed to deposit sediments. However, the quality of the water has been degraded, habitats damaged and the health of the forest reduced. This is a change that has led to water flowing of the wrong direction leading to semi-permanent flooding and therefore destroying the forests. Other areas of the Atchafalaya Basin suffer excess or insufficient sediments deposited from the river (Frostick & Jones, 2002).

Conclusion

From the above, it should be noted that the Atchafalaya River has been changing since the 16th Century. It is clear that this river is located at the South Central in Louisiana, has been receiving water from both Red River and about a volume of 30 percent from River Mississippi through the Old River. Atchafalaya River, being a significant floodway to the lower Mississippi River, it is important to note that the vast volumes of flow and sediments carried by the river have been affected at a higher pace. It is clear that the increase in the flow of water has led to rapid erosion producing an accretion area that is easily noticed geomorphological. Shreves cutoff has improved the process of navigation and reduced bend way length of Mississippi River resulting to the lower and upper old Rivers connecting Mississippi eastwards, Red and Atchafalaya Rivers westward. Modification of the junction is another change noted after the intervention human and of the natural activities. For instance, there was a significant log removal in the year 1833 and a much burning of wood debris in 1839 and 1861. It is clear that the land experiences numerous problems not limited to hurricanes, subsidence as well as rising in the sea-level. River Atchafalaya gets a considerable volume of water to the Terrebonne basin. However, when the level of the river is high, some amount would reach the central part of the pool. Also, the massive flow of water has resulted in a dam being constructed across Bayou Lafourche to control flooding. On the other hand, the quality of the water has been degraded from fresh to dirty water. The habitats have been damaged and the health of nature demoted. Construction of dams and canals has resulted in water flowing through the wrong direction leading flooding and destruction of forests. These are all transformations both artificial and natural Atchafalaya River has undergone since the 1800s. The changing course of the river has led to economic hardships. Also, it has led to the sinking of significant areas of drylands as well as loss of wetlands as the ocean recoups southern Louisiana. Out of the sixty years of experience, the community should seek to restore the wildlife and fish habitats among other species that make use of the Atchafalaya Basin. This will help in benefiting both human beings and nature.

Works Cited

Frostick, L.E, and S J. Jones. Sediment Flux to Basins: Causes, Controls and Consequences.London: The Geological Society, 2002. Print.

Geological Investigation of the Atchafalaya Basin and the Problem of Mississippi RiverDiversion. Vicksburg, MS: Waterways Experiment Station, 1952. Print.

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