News From the Field
Spillways Can Divert Sand From Rivers to Rebuild Wetlands

July 24, 2012

Researchers could have a new method to rebuild wetlands of the Louisiana delta, thanks to a chance finding during severe flooding of the Mississippi River. Civil engineers and geologists from the University of Illinois, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, found that when the Bonnet Carre spillway was opened in 2011, a high percentage of the river's sand load diverted into the spillway, a goal of research work to build up wetlands. Full Story

Source
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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