May 15, 1928: Anniversary of the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project

On this, the anniversary of the 1928 Flood Control Act and the birth of the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) Project, let us not forget the value of this project to the nation nor the efforts of those who designed and built it as we approach its 100th anniversary!

On May 15, 1928, Congress passed the 1928 Flood Control Act, which authorized Chief of Engineers Maj. Gen. Edgar Jadwin’s plan of improvement for the lower Mississippi valley. This landmark piece of legislation was in response to the Great Flood of 1927, the most destructive flood disaster in our nation’s history. The flood left more than 500 dead, another 700,000 homeless, and 27,000 square miles in the Mississippi valley underwater. The damages were so great that they equaled one-third of the Federal budget for that year. Were a similar flood to occur today, the damages would exceed $1 trillion!

Over the next year, all the greatest engineering minds in the Nation sought to understand why this disaster had occurred and how to prevent a similar disaster from ever occurring again. After months of congressional hearings and testimony from expert witnesses, the record of which encompasses thousands upon thousands of pages, Congress chose the plan of Chief of Engineers Edgar Jadwin, with the Mississippi River Commission overseeing the execution of the plan. Over the decades that followed, Congress modified Jadwin’s plan until it evolved into what is now the MR&T Project.

In 2011, the Mississippi River was swollen with volumes of water not seen since the Great Flood of 1927. In that single event, the multi-generational investment in the MR&T paid for itself several time over. Other than the extraordinary amount of water flowing through the lower Mississippi valley, thanks to the MR&T, the 1927 and 2011 floods had little else in common. Unlike the 1927 Flood, there were ZERO deaths. The MR&T also prevented flooding on more than 10 million acres that were ravaged by the 1927 flood. And that only highlights the benefits of the MR&T during a SINGLE EVENT.

Below are just a few of the MR&T’s many economic benefits that generate tens of billions of dollars annually for the region and support tens of thousands of jobs.

• The MR&T protects energy: 108 power plants, 12 major oil refineries, nearly 34,000 oil and natural gas wells, and more than 4,500 miles of natural gas pipelines.
• The MR&T protects commerce: 4,364 miles of highways, 2,364 miles of rail, 563 manufacturing facilities, and 4 of the top 15 deep-deep draft ports in the nation, including the Port of South Louisiana, the busiest port in the western hemisphere, all lie within the areas protected by MR&T levees.
• The MR&T protects agriculture: MR&T levees protect 22.5 million acres of prime croplands that generate $8.7 billion in annual revenues and employ 56,000 people. The navigability of the river also allows this agricultural output to be shipped via the most efficient and cost-effective means, allowing these products to compete on the global market and for cost savings to be passed along to domestic consumers.
• The MR&T protects critical infrastructure: MR&T levees protect 4.5 million people, 1147 schools, 91 colleges, 646 fires stations and 346 police stations, 102 hospitals and 240 nursing homes, 158 airports and 86 heliports.

The benefits of the MR&T extend well beyond the lower Mississippi River alluvial valley. The MR&T protects the spout of the greater Mississippi River watershed – our nation’s middle coast – a vast area nestled between the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Appalachian Mountains to the east, a land mass covering 41 percent of the continental United States. The watershed is crisscrossed by an inland waterways system that includes tens of thousands of miles of inland waterways connecting the Great Lakes (northern coast) to the Gulf of Mexico (southern coast). Thanks to a multi-generational commitment of our ancestors, the vast riches of the American interior can be transported via the inland waterways system to global markets so that our blessings can be shared with the world.

The nexus of this vast watershed, where all the water and riches of the nation’s interior converge, is the lower Mississippi River. And yet, despite its value to the nation, after 96 years the MR&T system that protects this vital stretch of river is still not complete. The citizens of the lower Mississippi valley are still awaiting the protection they were promised by Congress. Another $6.4 billion is needed to for the MR&T to pass Project Design Flood. More than 550 miles of MR&T levees are still below project grade and numerous critical maintenance items must be addressed for the system to function as designed.

As the 100th anniversary of the project and the 150th anniversary of the Mississippi River Commission approaches, we must look forward to the next 100 years. We stand on the shoulders of giants who have built a system that is the envy of the world. But we cannot rest on their achievements. We must look forward to the next 100 years of the project and finish what our predecessors began, so that the next 100 years will be as successful as the past 100 years.