NEW ORLEANS — A river barge carrying half a million gallons of fresh river water is now at the Port Sulphur Water Treatment Facility ready to help combat the saltwater intrusion in lower Plaquemines Parish.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District says the barge of fresh water arrived at the parish water treatment facility about 7:00 p.m. Sunday.
The water will be mixed with water at the intake to dilute the salinity levels to make it safe for water usage. Additional barges will be delivered to treatment plants in Pointe a la Hache, Belle Chasse, and Dalcour by the end of next week.
Once onsite, the Corps says it will take a few days to install and then it will be ready for operation.
The water treatment plant in Port Sulphur is blending water from the Belle Chasse plant and pushing that water to Venice Louisiana which should improve the quality of the drinking water in that area.
The Corps says it will be able to deliver 36 million gallons of water per day in the event additional facilities are impacted by the saltwater intrusion.
The Corps also says the amount of water barged daily will depend on the amount of water requested by each water facility.
In addition to barging water, work continues on increasing the height of the underwater sill in the river which will help hold back the saltwater encroaching on the bottom of the river.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.