Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, attended a groundbreaking ceremony Dec. 3, 2024, for a Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority project to reintroduce fresh water from the Mississippi River into the Maurepas Swamp in St. Charles, St. James and St. John parishes in Louisiana.
The CPRA’s River Reintroduction Into Maurepas Swamp Project is designed to divert fresh water from the river back into the swamp through a 5.5-mile controlled-flow diversion to help improve the health of the cypress-tupelo swamp by adding much-needed nutrients, flushing out stagnant, low-oxygen water, and introducing river sediment to combat unhealthy salinity levels in the swamp.
This project also serves as mitigation for more than 10,000 acres of the Maurepas Swamp that lie within the footprint of the USACE West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Project, which is being constructed to provide flood risk reduction for the residents in the three-parish area.
This is the first time USACE has used a CPRA construction restoration project as a mitigation feature, and it highlights the partnership among federal, state and local entities working within these three parishes.