The Loss of the Mississippi Delta Swamps

            The Mississippi Delta Swamp lands are disappearing about 25 square miles a year because the levees are making the water rush out past the delta swamps and barrier islands where the sediment is needed. Historically, some people benefited from the building of the levees. The Army Corps of Engineers got paid to build the levees. The people who got the jobs benefited because they were paid. The farmers benefited because their crops didn't get washed away in the seasonal flooding. And finally, the houses of the people behind the levees didn't flood (I noticed that all of the people that benefited benefited for economic reasons.) .
             Some people and things are negatively impacted by the situation. All of the animals and plants that live in the delta swamps are losing their habitat at the rate of 25 square miles per year. If most of the land animals and plants go, then the marine life will either over-populate (if the animals go first) or starve (if the plants go first). This is also bad for humans because most of the marine life in the Gulf of Mexico spends part of their life in the delta swamps and the Gulf of Mexico is one of the biggest fisheries in North America. The people of New Orleans are negatively impacted because New Orleans is sinking. That's happening because the sediment under New Orleans that gets washed out because of the tides is not being replaced like the Mississippi used to do.New Orleans has already sunk ten feet.
             There are many possible solutions to this problem. Fresh water diversions could be created. Fresh water diversions are when levees are taken out so the river can flow into new canals allowing silt and sediment to be collected in the Mississippi and carried back into the delta swamps. We could stop dredging. This would allow the silt and sediment to build back up in the river again. Water could be diverted directly into the wetlands instead of being forced past the wetlands and barrier islands.