NEW ROADS, La. (AP) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has signed off on a plan to restore water quality in False River by creating a containment dike - a plan that involves lowering the oxbow lake’s water level next fall.
The Advocate reports (https://bit.ly/1tTbBPp ) the False River Restoration Project, which is being financed by $1.5 million in state funding, now heads to the Pointe Coupee Parish Police Jury for local approval.
The project involves creating a 16.5-acre containment dike in the southern portion of the lake. To lessen costs associated with the construction of the containment island, the lake’s water level will be lowered.
“We shouldn’t have any issues with getting the Police Jury to approve this because everyone is on board with what we’re trying do,” Juror Kyle Olinde said Wednesday.
Olinde serves on the False River Watershed Council - a 15-member board composed of state and local government officials and Pointe Coupee community leaders charged with overseeing False River’s recovery efforts.
“The Police Jury is aware that False River is a gold mine for the parish, so I have no doubt we’ll get this approved at our next meeting in June,” Olinde said.
Officials hope to kick off construction in the South Flats portion of the lake by September, pending jury approval in June. The project will take approximately seven months to finish.
For the past two years, state and local officials have taken a more aggressive approach toward addressing the lake’s 20-year decline. Their efforts have been guided by an ambitious restoration plan the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources unveiled to the public in May 2012.
False River’s decline is mostly attributed to heavy silt buildup over the past two decades. It has affected the lake’s water quality, stifled vegetation growth and curtailed fish-spawning habitats.
The first phase of the project involves dredging the sediment buildup on the lake’s floor and using it to build the containment dike that will act as a dam to block further sediment buildup in the rest of the waterway.
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Information from: The Advocate, https://theadvocate.com
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