Drought impact on River traffic ( update with B Krasting piece today ) - Mississippi sees water supply issues on New Orleans and shipping traffic at different points along the river...

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-08-22/low-water-slow-boats

Low Water - Slow Boats

Submitted by Bruce Krasting on 08/22/2012 07:19 -0400

• headlines
 
• NOAA

.

The following pictures are of the Mississippi from this year and last. The 2012 drought has lowered the river level.

2011

2012

The water level is down as much as 40 feet from a year ago.

Its so dry, grass is growing on the sandbanks.

The low water is raising hell with the river traffic. Some headlines:

.

.

.

How big a deal is this? Big. ABC put the potential hit to the economy at $300Mn a day. As many as 400k jobs are in play. The have a quote from the Army Corps of Engineers suggesting the problem is not going away anytime soon.

I was surprised to learn that 90% of the nation's waterborne commercial deliveries are on the Mississippi.

The Army Corps got its forecast of "no relief" from NOAA. The 30 day forecast shows a continuation of the dry conditions in the center of the country. There is no reason to be optimistic looking at the 90 day outlook.

.

.

The only winners in this story are the rail-roads. Everyone else will pay a bit more. In some cases there might be shortages (rock salt/chemicals up north). Global grain, corn and bean supplies may get disrupted. Add another few percent to the already skyrocketing price of raw food stocks.

http://grist.org/news/lower-river-levels-threaten-new-orleans-water-supply/

Lower river levels threaten New Orleans water supply

By Philip Bump

Another time New Orleans had water problems.

The Mississippi River is near historic low levels from Illinois down to Louisiana, causing something of a problem for the city of New Orleans. From GulfLive.com:

Gov. Bobby Jindal on Wednesday declared a state of emergency for Plaquemines Parish as it deals with encroaching salt water that’s threatening drinking water in the New Orleans area.

The declaration clears the way for state agencies to offer help to the parish as it deals with its water supply issues. Due to the Mississippi River’s low water levels, salt water has been moving far upriver and was at the outskirts of New Orleans by Wednesday, nearly 90 miles north of the mouth of the Mississippi. Also Wednesday, Plaquemines Parish issued an advisory to parish residents that high levels of sodium and chloride were being measured in drinking water.

The river was closed temporarily to shipping traffic as contractors began building an underwater barrier that the Army Corps of Engineers says will stop the advance of salt water. Many communities along the river draw freshwater from the Mississippi with freshwater intakes and water treatment facilities that are incompatible with saltwater caused by the current intrusion.

The Missouri River isn’t faring much better. But its receding waters have yielded an interesting discovery: the wreckage of a 19th century steamboat, the Montana.

Pieces of the sunken vessel are now clearly visible because of the near-record low water levels.

The Montana, built in 1882, was the largest vessel to ever travel the Missouri. It was longer than a football field.

The Montana struck an underwater tree in 1884 and was piloted ashore. The boat has been there ever since for the past 128 years.

In other words, it’s a wash. Yes, a major metropolitan area already struggling to recover from one of the worst natural disasters in American history may have its water supply threatened, but we also found a cool old rotten boat!

This drought is now officially zero-sum.

and.......http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2012/08/11-mile_stretch_of_mississippi.html#incart_river_default

11-mile stretch of Mississippi River closed because of low water, 97 vessels blocked (updated)

Published: Monday, August 20, 2012, 4:08 PM     Updated: Monday, August 20, 2012, 4:45 PM

 By The Associated Press 
Follow

ShareEmailPrint

This tow boat and barge setup works its way up river on the Mississippi side of the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, Miss., Thursday, July 26. 2012. In a switch of extremes, the river has dropped to very low levels this summer unlike last year when the river was flooding much of the Delta due to record high levels. The exposed sand, sand bars and riverbeds along the river have caused traffic to slow to a crawl. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

MEMPHIS, Tennessee -- Nearly 100 boats and barges were waiting for passage Monday along an 11-mile stretch of the Mississippi River that has been closed due to low water levels, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

New Orleans-based Coast Guard spokesman Ryan Tippets said the stretch of river near Greenville, Miss., has been closed intermittently since Aug. 11, when a vessel ran aground.

Tippets said the area is currently being surveyed for dredging and a Coast Guard boat is replacing eight navigation markers. He says 40 northbound vessels and 57 southbound vessels were stranded and waiting for passage Monday afternoon.

Tippets said it is not immediately clear when the river will re-open. A stretch of river near Greenville was also closed in 1988 due to low water levels caused by severe drought. The river hit a record low on the Memphis gauge that year.

The Mississippi River from Illinois to Louisiana has seen water levels plummet due to drought conditions in the past three months. Near Memphis, the river level was more than 12 feet lower than normal for this time of year.

Maintaining the navigation channel is essential to keeping vessels from colliding or running aground. Thousands of tons of material are shipped on the river each day.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is using dredges to dig out sand and ensure the navigation channel is deep enough for barges loaded with coal, steel, agricultural products and other goods. The Corps is required to provide a minimum navigation channel that is 9 feet deep and 300 feet wide on the lower Mississippi River.

Shippers who move material up and down the river on a daily basis have complained that the shallow river is forcing them to lighten the loads on their barges to avoid hitting bottom. Lighter loads mean less revenue for the shippers, who still have to deal with costs such as labor and fuel.

Also, low water at docks and terminals makes it more difficult to load or unload material, as ships have trouble getting close enough to docks.

The river level in Memphis was minus-8.5 feet on Friday, according to the Corps of Engineers. The "minus" reading does not mean the river is dried up -- it's just a measurement based on how the Memphis river gauge is designed. Essentially, the reading means the river level is far below normal.

The record for the lowest measured water level for the Mississippi River near Memphis is minus-10.7 feet, in 1988. The Corps has said the river is not expected to reach record lows.