It’s been 83 years since the federal government authorized a project to protect the south Delta area of Mississippi from flooding, though the approved pumps to reallocate floodwater in the Yazoo Backwater Area into the Mississippi River never came to fruition. Now, after decades of heated battles, proponents of the pumps project are one step closer to having their wish come true.
On Friday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued its final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Yazoo Backwater Study Area. This comes more than five years after a major flood overwhelmed close to 500,000 acres of land, wrecking agricultural areas, destroying hundreds of homes, causing more than $800 million in damages, and adding increased risk to human health.
In its latest EIS, the Corps pronounced its backing of a plan that contains a combination of structural, operational, nonstructural, environmental enhancement, and mitigation components. The proposal includes high-volume pumps to manage water levels, 34 supplemental low-flow groundwater wells, and buyouts of some properties in the area — with the consent of the property owners.
“Property owners that do not participate in an acquisition of structures could still be offered other nonstructural measures such as flood proofing or raising of structures,” a portion of the EIS reads. “However, property owners would have to understand that there would be periods of time throughout the year when the structures could not be usable or accessible since we are not managing floodwaters below 90 feet. The plan will also focus on properties between the 90-93 foot elevation.”
The Yazoo Backwater Study Area is located in west-central Mississippi, immediately north of Vicksburg. The area extends northward about 65 miles to the latitude of Hollandale and Belzoni, comprises about 1,446 square miles, and forms a triangle. The Big Sunflower and Little Sunflower Rivers, Deer Creek, and Steele Bayou flow through the area, which consists of 30,500 residents, 80% of whom are reported to be underserved and environmentally burdened.
Plans to mitigate flooding in the south Delta were proposed in 1941. By 1978, levees and drainage structures had been constructed, but the pumps had not
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