Mississippi River's water level sinks
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 Coast Guard said.
Coast Guard spokesman Ryan Tippets, based in New Orleans, 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 navigation markers. He said 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 reopen. 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.
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 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.
Just north of downtown Memphis on Friday, the dredge Hurley was cutting a 2,000-foot swath of river bottom to ensure that the channel is safe for vessels. The dredge is referred to as a dustpan, which means it uses a vacuum-like suction to suck up sand from the river bottom, said its captain, Frank Segree. The sand is then pushed through a 1,200-foot pipeline that deposits it on the banks of the river.
Segree said four dredges are currently working from St. Louis to Vicksburg, Miss., performing a job that is essential to U.S. industry but is hardly noticed by the general public.
"If we lose the river system, it's just like losing the interstate highway system," Segree said.