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Project Title:
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Missouri River Recovery and Associated Sediment Management Issues
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PIN:
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WSTB-U-07-01-A
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Major Unit:
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Division on Earth and Life Studies
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Sub Unit:
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Water Science and Technology Board
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RSO:
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Jacobs, Jeffrey
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Subject/Focus Area:
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Project Scope
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An ad hoc committee, formed and overseen by the Water Science and Technology Board, will carry out a comprehensive study of sediment in and from the Missouri River basin. Sediments from the Missouri River basin affect ecology and contaminant and nutrient loadings throughout the basin. Issues associated with Missouri River basin sediment influence water management decisions within the greater Mississippi River watershed and extend as far as the Louisiana coast and the Gulf of Mexico. Thus, Missouri River sediment and sediment management has a broad geographic context, with effects that reach from the Missouri River's headwaters in Montana to its mouth north of St. Louis and beyond to the Gulf of Mexico. Specific questions to be addressed are:
1) How and why is sediment a significant variable in the environmental restoration of a river system like the Missouri River?
2) What is the significance of the Missouri River sediments to the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia problem?
3) What is the significance of the Missouri River sediments to the restoration of Louisiana coastal wetlands?
4) What are the key environmental and economic considerations regarding nutrient loads and/or contaminants in Missouri River sediment? To what extent can such issues be addressed with management strategies?
5) Are there long-term consequences to the lack of sediment in the system to the human environment, either environmentally or economically?
6) Are there alternatives for reintroducing sediment into the system? What are they, and what are the key constraints surrounding these alternatives?
7) Are current Corps' management strategies, restoration tools (e.g., channel widening, creation of chutes, shallow water habitat, etc.) , and other activities adequate and comprehensive enough to address issues associated with sedimentand nutrients in the system? If not, how might such strategies and activities be improved?
The project is sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army).
The approximate start date for the project is March 6, 2008.
A report will be issued at the end of the project in approximately 24 months.
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Project Duration:
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24 months
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Provide FEEDBACK on this project.
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Contact the Public Access Records Office to make an inquiry, request a list of the public access file materials, or obtain a copy of the materials found in the file.
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Tel:
202.334.2000