Management of the Mississippi River
- Created by: aimeestewxrt
- Created on: 18-02-19 13:17
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- Management of the Mississippi River
- Fourth longest river in the world - main tributaries Missouri and Ohio drains a third of the USA and small part of Canada
- Flooding is an almost annual event with late spring having peak discharge due to snow melting
- Estimated 18 million rely on this river for water supply (50 cities)
- When flooded in 2011, 25,000 people were evacuated and damage costs were estimated $3billion
- Hard engineering methods
- Raised levees - raised to 15m over a stretch of 3000km
- Straightening of the river channel - meanders cut through over stretch of 1750km creating fast flowing river channel
- Dams - flow of the main tributaries eg Ohio river has been controlled by 100 dams
- Soft Engineering Methods
- Afforestation in upper course - tree's planted eg in Tennessee Valey to intercept rainfall and stabilise soil
- Safe flood zones - building been restricted in many floodplain areas
- Washlands - in 2011, Morganza spillway was opening to flood 12,000km2 of farmland in Louisiana preventing the water from reaching New Orleans
- Fourth longest river in the world - main tributaries Missouri and Ohio drains a third of the USA and small part of Canada
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