Mississippi River Modeling and Analysis Forum

By Dominic Izzo, P.E., M. ASCE

The Mississippi Valley Division (MVD) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in collaboration with the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Science and Technology Program and the Corps’ Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC), sponsored a forum on Mississippi River Modeling and Analysis on the 26th and 27th of  July in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

The forum’s purpose was to bring together engineers, scientists, and other interested parties to review the history, status, and future needs of river modeling and analysis processes.  Forum presentations and panel discussions focused on hydrology and hydraulics, sediment transport, and ecosystem modeling as well as analysis tools used on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.  The forum was an excellent opportunity for modelers, scientists and engineers to increase their knowledge of modeling efforts, facilitate information exchange, improve communication, and foster teamwork.

 Over 115 attendees represented federal, state, and local agencies, as well as academia, engineering firms, and interested non-government organizations (NGOs).  Mr. Dominic Izzo, Chairman of COPRI’s Wetland and Sediment Management Committee, represented COPRI. Two LCA Science and Technology Program Committee members, Nancy Powell and Buddy Clairain, were active in organizing the forum.  Chuck Shadie of MVD was the moderator for the Forum, and Larry Banks, the Chief of the Watershed Division at MVD chaired the panel discussions. Powell and Clairain are also active members of COPRI’s Wetland and Sediment Management Committee.

River modeling in the Mississippi River Basin provides tools with which to analyze the existing system and proposed changes to that system, including flood control and navigation projects, as well as major diversions for environmental restoration.  In particular, Federal and State agencies are poised to make major investments in the restoration of Coastal Louisiana. These investments will largely focus on diverting large amounts of freshwater and sediment from the lower Mississippi into Louisiana’s eroding coastal wetlands.  Good modeling will be very useful in providing information for engineering decisions as to whether these diversions will have unintended consequences for navigation, flood control or other ecosystems in the Basin.  Furthermore, other programs on the Missouri and the Upper Mississippi Rivers could very well affect sediment loads and water quality on the lower river, in the estuarine system, and in the Gulf of Mexico.  Dr. John Day of Louisiana State University gave an impressive presentation of the effect that constructed wetlands in the Upper Mississippi could have on hypoxia in the Gulf, for example. Modeling could definitely provide insight on the interrelation of these various efforts.

Coordination of activities and knowledge of others’ data and results, while occurring, is not comprehensive, and various presentations highlighted the need for better coordination of data collection and model results.  There appeared to be a consensus that there was a requirement for a “clearing house” for both data collection and models. This clearing house could perhaps be within the Corps of Engineers’ organization, in academia, or within

some NGO.  Another important conclusion reached at the forum’s closing plenary session appeared to be the requirement to have organized, systematic collection of data throughout the Basin.  Currently there are many agencies that collect data, chief among them the Corps of Engineers and the USGS, but no systematic collection throughout the Basin to support regional modeling or watershed management adequately.  Previous efforts to collect the data appear to have been frustrated by funding constraints.  However, most participants agreed that if there is going to be effective modeling, and sound engineering and water resources management decisions in the Basin, the right data would have to be collected and stored on a long-term basis. 

By providing a forum to discuss past, current, and planned modeling efforts on the river, the

Corps and the LCA Science and Technology Program took a major step forward to achieve better communication and data sharing between the various groups that are active in the Mississippi River watershed.  Certainly the forum fostered a climate where scientists and engineers can communicate and work together, as well as avoiding possible duplication of effort.  Most participants agreed that this was a worthwhile endeavor that should be repeated on a regular basis.  The LCA Science and Technology Program will be providing a compilation of all the forum presentations for participants in the near future.