Salt creeping up the Mississippi River

[alp227]

Source: CNN

A drought in Louisiana has lowered the Mississippi River, leaving its southern tip awash in saline from the Gulf of Mexico and prompting health officials in Plaquemines Parish to issue a drinking water advisory.

"The water's perfectly safe to drink," said Guy Laigast, director of the parish's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, in a telephone interview Wednesday. "It's just got the elevated salt."

With the mighty Mississippi near its all-time low, the salty water has crept in as a wedge, he said. Because salty water is denser than fresh, it tends to collect at lower depths, he said.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/15/us/louisiana-drinking-water/index.html

[Nostradammit]

1. And who doesn't like to drink salt water?

"The water's perfectly safe to drink," said Guy Laigast, director of the parish's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, in a telephone interview Wednesday. "It's just got the elevated salt."




"The air is perfectly safe to breathe, it's just got no oxygen in it."

[aquart]

2. We still haven't figured out how bad this will be.

Thank you, myopic deniers. We are utterly unprepared.

Lately I pray that I do not die of hunger or thirst.

[Judi Lynn]

3. So damned sad.Those praising melting ice in the Artic will enjoy fishing for octopi in the river n/t

[trof]

4. Plus we're sucking up the aquifer to water lawns. True story:

Many homeowners in coastal Alabama (on city water systems) have wells for watering shrubs and lawns. It's cheaper than using city water.

A few years ago residents of Ono Island (Google it. It's in Alabama) saw lawns and shrubs turning brown and dying in spite of daily watering. They called in a state horticulturist.

She tested a few wells and told them "You're watering with salt water."
Yep, they'd sucked the natural aquifer dry and salt water had come in to fill the void.

[raccoon]

5. thanks for posting--i'll google that. nt

[nanabugg]

8. Been warning about this. Fresh water is the "oil" of the future. Desalination plants will replace

oil refineries...but people called me an alarmist. Just saying

[jsr]

6. The perfect cure for hypertension

"It's just got the elevated salt."

[Sky Masterson]

7. Prediction..Elevated Bullshark attacks in the mississippi river.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0719_050719_bullsharks_2.html

[bluedigger]

9. There is little drought in Louisiana.

Maybe a little up north. In fact, a FB friend from New Orleans just posted this morning, complaining about 50 straight days of thunderstorms, and of turning into a frog.

Unfortunately, the Mississippi River does not receive most of it's water from Louisiana, and conditions upriver are much worse...