BRAITHWAITE, La. (WGNO) — Residents in Plaquemines Parish are voicing their concerns over the opening of the Caernarvon Diversion Canal.
The Caernarvon Diversion is located 15 miles downriver from New Orleans in Plaquemines Parish. Its main purpose is to divert water and sediment into the Breton Sound area to help with wetland creation and preservation.
But Councilman Mitch Jurisich said the saltwater intrusion is still a threat to the parish and opening the canal this time around could create a handful of issues.
“This crisis is still here,” Jurisich said. “It hasn’t gone away. We don’t know how high this river is going to rise or how long it may stay. So, we need to keep as much of that water right now in the river for our citizens of our parish.”
Jurisich said chloride levels could spike, leading to a possible shut down of water treatment plants, specifically Boothville and Port Sulpher. The opening of the Caernarvon Diversion could also impact fisherman and marine wildlife by changing the salinity levels, which need to be at a certain level for survival.
“Especially on the lower end of Plaquemines Parish,” said Jurisich. “They’ve dealt with this for many, many, many months. They were dealing with it before the upper end of the parish started dealing with it. They’ve been really stressed out over this and believe me, we’ve done everything as council members, as government. We’ve bent over backwards to try to make things right and make these people whole. And not a state’s going to come in and just go ahead and open these diversions, take 13,000 cubic feet per second of water out the river.”
Jurisich claims there was a lack of communication between the state and Plaquemines Parish. He believes this could have been avoided.
“It really bothers me that the state didn’t get with Plaquemines Parish and say, ‘hey, look, how are y’all doing?’ Let’s check in and see what’s going on. We kind of gave them, look, we’re not out the woods yet. This is a crisis for the people.”
He’s still hoping his message will reach the state.
“Please. That’s all I’m asking. Do not continue to take water further upstream from us right now, when we need to be normal.”
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