BELLE CHASSE, La.—Overlooking the winding banks of the lower Mississippi River, there’s a man-made levee that protects Ricky Becnel’s citrus plant nursery from catastrophic flooding under most circumstances.
Saxon Becnel & Sons in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, has been in his family for more than a century, just as the river has sustained the fruits of their labor with fresh river water for six generations.
The levee abides like a constant sentinel over the glimmering river, rolling vast and silent in the morning sunlight. Who knows what news the deep water will bring today?
Mr. Becnel admits he’s had his share of hard knocks as a citrus grower living and working so close to the river on his 20-acre nursery.
He’s been through devastating hurricanes—Katrina in 2005 breaching the levee and flooding his home—tropical storms, droughts, and now, saltwater river intrusion from the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr. Becnel, 61, accepts them all as the price of being in a business he loves.
“You know, I guess it’s what you were raised doing. It’s in your blood,” Mr. Becnel said of citrus growing, standing earlier by the water’s bouldered edge, a salinity meter in his hand.
Carefully, he dipped the device’s electronic sensor attached to a long wire into the sloshing river, stepping back and studying the results on a tiny LED screen.
Good News, Considering
“That’s the highest salinity I’ve seen yet,” Mr. Becnel said. “We'd still have to be almost three times that to be considered toxic.”Mr. Becnel believes it’s prudent for a citrus grower to be concerned about saltwater moving up through the Mississippi River delta and affecting his 500,000 plants—even worried at times.
“I’ve come to realize—and recognize—that worrying as an owner is a good thing,” he said. “As long as you sleep at night.
“But when you worry as a business owner, you’re unhappy. You know you have a problem. You recognize you have to fix that problem.”
From a regional perspective, that “fix” came from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) barges introducing millions of gallons of fresh water at treatment facilities to help reduce salinity to safe levels.
The USACOE also installed reverse osmosis machines at five treatment facilities throughout Plaquemines Parish, of which Belle Chasse is a part. There are 64 parishes in the state of Louisiana, each one the political equivalent of a county.
Plaquemines Parish President Keith Hinkley said he’s had daily conversations with parish, state, and federal officials about saltwater intrusion since the problem started last summer.
“Everything is in place. We do feel we have a handle on the situation. But it’s because we’ve been dealing with this since June 19,” he told The Epoch Times.
“It’s been a daily conversation of ours. It’s Monday, the day starts, and we are talking about it here.”
The problem concerns Mother Nature—a two-year regional drought causing the Mississippi River’s water level to drop due to lack of rain.
Usually, the water pressure forcing the river into the Gulf keeps the saltwater at bay. With lower flows, the ocean water begins to seep into the channel and move upriver like a wedge.
More than 80 percent of the state is currently under extreme drought conditions and 60 percent under exceptional drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor website.
‘Houston, We’ve Got A Problem’
However, salinity poses a health problem at unsafe levels as the water becomes difficult to treat with conventional purification methods.Mr. Hinkley said the saltwater intrusion has been moving steadily upriver and as far north as mile marker 69, forcing communities to react and prepare with drinking water advisories.
At 1,200 ppm, “Houston, we’ve got a problem,” he said.
“We’re not in a holding pattern. We’re also talking with state delegates. We’ve been talking with our federal delegates. We’re not slowing down—we’re moving forward.”
On Sept. 22, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans began discussions with federal emergency management agencies on minimizing saltwater intrusion’s health and environmental impacts.
The mayor also signed an emergency declaration allowing the city to “thoroughly prepare for and respond to any impending impacts.”
“It also allows for a more streamlined response and for state and federal agencies to deploy resources, if necessary,” Ms. Cantrell said in a press release.
Currently, tap water in Orleans Parish remains “safe to drink and use for all purposes.”
“This goes beyond New Orleans—it is a regional problem, and we will continue working to support our neighboring parishes of Plaquemines, who have already been impacted, and St. Bernard, who may soon be affected,” the mayor wrote.
The mayor’s office added that the USACOE’s anticipated timeline is for potential saltwater impacts at the Algiers and Carrollton water treatment plant locations along the Mississippi River in late October.
On Sept. 25, Louisiana’s Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards requested an emergency declaration from President Joe Biden, and two days later, the administration granted his request with promises of federal assistance.
Since June, three water treatment facilities that serve Plaquemines Parish were “inundated” with saltwater, Mr. Hinkley said.
Still, the temporary reverse osmosis machines appear to be working.
Reverse osmosis water purification uses micro-filters to remove contaminants from the water to make it potable.
At the parish’s Boothville water treatment facility, the salinity levels in raw intake from the river measured 1,020 ppm on Oct. 18, reduced to a safe-to-drink 70 ppm following reverse osmosis filtration, according to the Plaquemines Parish website.
“We were the first hit [by saltwater intrusion]. It was pretty strong for a while,” Mr. Hinkley said.
“The chloride—we’ve been able to keep it down—and that’s at all five facilities. At every one of our plants, we’re producing good water.”
He said the parish plans to install permanent reverse osmosis machines at three water treatment facilities for roughly $150 million.
The Environmental Protection Agency said it’s safe to consume saline water below 250 milligrams per liter.
Anna Timmerman, associate extension agent for horticulture at Louisiana State University’s AgCenter, told The Epoch Times that in recent days the saltwater wedge retreated more than five miles to mile marker 63.9.
Ms. Timmerman said Orleans and Jefferson parish growers and farmers should experience “minimal to no impact” if salt water levels remain stable at around 250 ppm, though most crops can tolerate “well over” 400 to 1,000 ppm.
“Impacts to most of lower Plaquemines Parish are ongoing and unchanged for growers,” Ms. Timmerman added.
“Upper Plaquemines and St. Bernard parish growers may still anticipate elevated salt levels in municipal water; however, these levels are not forecasted to reach levels that kill or injure most crops.”
“Sensitive horticultural crops such as some greenhouse and nursery species may be impacted but may be flushed periodically with fresh water to prevent damage.”
She said mature trees should suffer minimal to no impact from higher salt levels, while most livestock species can tolerate up to 2,000 ppm.
ACOE Public Affairs Specialist Matt Rowe said that under most conditions the river flowing at 300,000 cubic feet per second is enough to keep the saltwater out of the delta.
Below that amount, “we start to see saltwater intrusion north,” he said.
He said the water flowing around 150,000 cubic feet per second or less has allowed the wedge of saline water to move as far north as mile marker 69.
A similar condition occurred in 1988 when saltwater intrusion reached the 104-mile marker. The historic high for saltwater intrusion is mile marker 119, Mr. Rowe said.
Low water flows also enabled saltwater movement upriver in 1999, 2012, and 2022.
Mr. Rowe said the Mississippi River is necessary for shipping and agriculture, draining about 41 percent of moisture from the contiguous United States.
The current saltwater intrusion problem has noticeably improved since September through ACOE mitigation efforts, he said.
In late June, the ACOE constructed an underwater sill, or levee, near mile marker 63, augmenting an existing sill by 25 feet to slow the advance of the saline wedge and allow shipping to continue.
That worked for a while, Mr. Rowe said, but when the saline levels began to increase, the agency decided to move the sill further north to the 69-mile marker.
“It is truly wedge-shaped, from the toe to where you see higher concentrations of salinity,” Mr. Rowe told The Epoch Times. “With augmentation, it’s been performing better than we anticipated. The wedge has retreated downriver.”
Installing reverse osmosis machines allowed purification facilities to treat up to 1 million gallons of water daily.
Each day, the ACOE barges transport up to 12 million gallons of fresh potable water for use by these facilities.
In neighboring Tammany Parish, Slidell resident Andy Frisard said the parish is fortunate to use wells for drinking water instead of relying on the Mississippi River.
“We’re mostly well-driven,” said Mr. Frisard, who views the saltwater intrusion problem as “a force of nature.”
“There’s not a whole lot we can do. Everything is low on the Mississippi now. We’re still preparing for the worst.”
“Right now, if this were Katrina, we'd be swimming underwater.”
Further north, in the “Big Easy”—New Orleans (population 376,971)—the French Quarter is a popular tourist destination known for its vibrant night scene and eclectic mix of French and Creole cultures, world-class food, festive Mardi Gras, and characteristic charm and openness.
So having access to fresh drinking water is essential to running a hospitality business, said Ace Eroset, a bartender at Mango Daiquiris near Bourbon and St. Ann streets.
“It’s essential—a No. 1 priority. It’s a fluid situation,” Mr. Eroset said, laughing at the pun.
“Let’s hope we get some rain up north. It’s been a long, hot summer. That heat dome got to us.”
Gary Martin, bar manager at The Corner Pocket, said the saltwater intrusion should let up with much-needed rainfall.
But for now, the drought is hurting everyone.
“We have to understand it’s going to affect Plaquemines Parish, Orleans Parish, and Jefferson Parish,” Mr. Martin said. “A lot of people are freaking out about it.”
Even so, “I don’t think it’s like during COVID when the whole world shut down. It’s just a small section along the river.”
Donya Craig, manager of the Trident Inn and Suites in New Orleans, said that while the city has yet to feel the direct impact of saltwater intrusion: “We have to keep working” to ensure it doesn’t happen—especially within the hospitality industry.
“In the hospitality industry, it becomes a huge factor for our guests,” he said. “We’re talking showers. We do operate a breakfast in the morning. We would have to shut the water off for breakfast, coffee, and juice.
“It’s not happening right now—thankfully. Hopefully, it doesn’t happen. It would be a huge detriment to the hotel industry.
“This has never happened before, to my knowledge. It’s never happened, even as a kid growing up in the area.”
Hotel guest Green Stevenson Jr., 74, a former Merchant Marine and Vietnam veteran, said he believes the ongoing drought is, “in my humble opinion, a result of global warming.”
“This is a serious thing. I don’t think the salt will get here. I think the rain will come right at the last minute,” Mr. Stevenson told The Epoch Times.
“I think God is trying to tell us something—and we’re not listening.”
As far as citrus grower Ricky Becnel is concerned, it’s a matter of watching, waiting, and monitoring the river daily.
The plan is for the nursery to continue as the family has done for nearly 150 years.
“I’ve always thought that you’ve got negatives in life,” Mr. Becnel said. “Katrina was a tremendous hit. You take that negative and turn it into a positive.”
So the family opened another nursery in Orange, Texas, which “makes this one look like a postage stamp—five times the size of this one. Everything is bigger in Texas,” he said.
The rest he'll leave to the parish authorities and Mother Nature.
“Do I think we'll be OK? I do. We have a game plan,” Mr. Becnel said.
