Secular Café: Mississippi River is drying up -- this is how bad the drought is

Secular Café For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Mississippi River is drying up -- this is how bad the drought is Aug 25th 2012, 18:13 Quote: On the thirsty Mississippi River, battle against sandbars strains mariners, machines By Associated Press, Updated: Saturday, August 25, 11:38 AM GREENVILLE, Miss. — Another day, another sandbar to clear on the clogged Mississippi River. It's a routine that's settled in as the drought in the nation's central states leaves the river without the rainfall that is its lifeblood. The river is fed by the third-largest watershed in the world — a large chunk of the U.S. and part of Canada — and drought in that area means lower water along the river. That can put a major hurting on industries that use the river to ship hundreds of millions of tons of products, from grain to gasoline, every year. One estimate put barge industry losses at $1 billion the last time the river was this low, in 1988. That's why dredges, which knock down shallow spots and clear the shipping channel, are so vital in times like these. Aboard the Dredge Jadwin, a massive-four story hulk that's working around the clock to clear channels at Greenville, crews are pumping enough material from the river bottom every day to cover a football field 40 feet deep with sand and Mississippi mud. .... Much more here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...d67_story.html

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions