Delta from space

[foraker]

my office mate from grad school has a sciencey blog and he brought this image to my attention. basically, the lousiana delta region, post-katrina. note how the levees around NO have basically stopped sediment deposition in the proximal delta region. there's the root of your disaster right there. he said mexico has a mini-version of the same thing going on there right now but that nothing will be done about it since the local forces of real estate development want nothing more than to keep the forces of nature at bay. therefore, the local mayor also is in league with them. thus, the feds do nothing. bush may get a black eye on this, but there's plenty o blame to go around.

[espirita]

Despite the destruction from the last few weeks, that is a really beautiful image. Thanks for posting it.

[iain]

The Mississippi River is the Army Corps' pet project. It's pretty much the classic example of how forcing a river to do something it doesn't want to do will lead to problems (but it does keep a bunch of people employed). The Yangtze will probably surpass the infamy of the Mississippi in the coming years.

[Thinker]

What's the chance you could post a link to the blog the image came from?

[foraker]

It's here

[sobo]

It's only the CoE's "pet project" because some bunch of idiots a few hundred years ago decided they needed a city built below sea level next to a pre-existing delta in a hurricane zone.

 

And I don't doubt that the Chinese will experience a similar altering of the natural environment that they don't yet realize.

[Thinker]

It's here

 

Thanks!

[Off_White]

It's only the CoE's "pet project" because some bunch of idiots a few hundred years ago decided they needed a city built below sea level next to a pre-existing delta in a hurricane zone.

 

Yeah, build a port at the mouth of the largest river in the country, what a stupid idea, eh?

[sobo]

Not a bad idea, no. But see iain's comment and my echo regarding it. The NO city fathers messed with nature in ways that they didn't/couldn't comprehend. To now blame the CoE for the woes of NO is non sequitor.

[Dru]

Build a city below sea level... how Dutch!

[sobo]

Yah, whatever. I just get really fucking sick of people lambbasting the Corps of Engineers about how they killed the salmon, or how they let New Orleans flood, or whatever the rant du jour is.

 

Fact remains that the CoE operates under the Army, which is directed by the Commander in Chief. If ya wanna blame someone, blame him, and all his predecessors.

 

Oh, BTW, the Bureau of Reclamation killed the salmon when they built Grand Coulee Dam, not the Corps. Every Corps dam ever built on the Columbia and Snake River mainstems has had fish ladders/preservation planned in at the design level and constructed as a necessary part of the project. The P.U.D. dams and those by the BoR did not. In particular, the BoR eliminated it from Grand Coulee because it was deemed to be too expensive.

 

So lay the fuck off the Corps. Fact is, you probably wouldn't be living the high life in the PNW if it wasn't for them. You know, irrigation water, plentiful crops/agriculture, cheap power, wines, microbrews... all that shit that we can live without.