host: While the historic drought
in the American west gets most
of our attention, the middle of
the country is suffering as
well.
Up and down the Mississippi
river basin below average
rainfall has constricted one of
the country's major economic
thoroughfares which could affect
consumers across the country.
As William reports, some areas
along the river are reporting
their lowest water levels in
decades.
Reporter: This dried sandy
expanse is not a desert but the
riverbed of the Mississippi.
It is laying bare in the sun as
the mighty rivers waters have
dried up.
It is the same in multiple
states.
In Tennessee, boats once
floating in water are now locked
in mud.
In Louisiana, the receding water
has revealed a century-old
sunken ship.
Our rock in Missouri, normally
an island in the middle of the
flowing river is now accessible
by foot or the first time in
over a decade.
The Mississippi is normally one
of the busiest cargo waterways
in America moving roughly 500
million tons of goods every
year.
More than half of all U.S. Grain
exports removed on this water
superhighway.
But this drought which
constricts the depth and the
width of the river has caused
traffic jams.
By some estimates the flow has
been cut by 45%.
All of this could cost the
economy $20 billion in damages
and losses.
>> Every time you lose a foot of
draft on a barge, that is the
equivalent of 600 bushels of
soybeans.
Reporter: Lou is the chief of
operations for the U.S. Army
corps of engineers St. Louis
district.
He oversees dredging operations
there removing sediment from the
riverbed to widen or deepen its
channel.
He says with this lack of
rainfall it is a constant
struggle to know where to
dredged next.
>> Based on the forecast you are
looking at the next problem area
that you have to hit before one
of them turns into a channel
closure.
So you get that off the
forecast.
It is really an analysis of when
it will become an issue and how
do you get there before it
becomes an issue.
Reporter: As a rivers freshwater
shrinks, saltwater from the
gulf which is upstream
threatening the drinking water.
Towns up and down the
Mississippi are asking for
federal assistance as conditions
are expected to worsen through
the winter.
I recently spoke with one of
those mayors, Jim Strickland.
Thank you for being here with us
today.
I know you have lived most of
your life in Memphis.
Can -- have you ever seen the
river this low before?
>> No, I have worked downtown
for 35 years and usually with
some kind of view of the
Mississippi river and I have
never seen it with the soil and
the sand and the dirt so
prevalent.
So often we see flooding
situations.
This is the exact opposite.
I have never seen it this low at
only visually but I hear so many
complaints about it from the
folks that operate our ports.
Reporter: When the river is low,
what does it mean for your city
and your constituents?
>> It narrows the depth of the
barges that ship goods.
Normally it is about 14 feet
deep.
Now, they have to narrow it to
about seven feet and sometimes
10 but that is basically half of
the amount of area to ship goods
which doubles the shipping cost
because they have to have two
barges instead of one or find
some other way to ship their
goods.
And barge traffic is a huge
business and mostly food
distribution in the united
States comes down the river at
some point.
It increases the cost to the
shipping companies which ends up
increasing the cost to you and
me at the grocery store.
Reporter: Does not have a more
practical impact on your city
itself being that you are
literally on the river?
>> Not necessarily city
government but for our
employers.
Our docs employ a lot of people.
There is less for them to do.
I am not sure they have laid off
anyone but certainly their
profits have decreased and
especially what they call bulk
transportation which is steel,
grains.
They are much harder to ship now
than liquids.
Liquids are going ok but the
hard items are almost out of
business.
Reporter: You mentioned before
that you and all cities along
the river have gotten accustomed
to floods.
Having a drought is a much
different thing and you do not
have the tools to deal with
that.
Explain that a little bit more,
what kinds of tools do you think
you need to try to live in a
drought stricken river?
>> Droughts happen less
frequently than floods or
release to and my adult life --
adult lifetime.
But the federal resources are
plentiful when there is
flooding.
They will compensate homeowners,
businesses, governments for the
expenses that we lose.
Drought, there really is no
compensation at all at the
federal level so these
businesses are really taking it
on the chin.
We really need a national policy
governing droughts.
Frankly, because it has happened
so infrequently, I'm sure it has
not made the radar of most
officials but it sure seems it
is happening more frequently and
with global warming I think we
need to be prepared.
The Mississippi river is so
important not only to commerce
but for recreation and the
northern part of the Mississippi
gets their drinking water from
it so it is an important asset
that needs more federal
attention.
Reporter: We know a warming
world will make these
unpredictable events more
unpredictable and it could be a
drought one year and a flood the
next year or some mixture of the
two.
As a mayor with a plan for not
this week alone but for months
and years down the road, how do
you plan for that?
>> We do not have the resources
even if you planned for it.
What are you going to do?
We really need the federal
intervention.
There are 10 states along the
Mississippi river.
102 cities and mayors involved
in our organization and we need
a regional, national policy on
the Mississippi river.
It is a lifeblood not only to
middle America but to the whole
country.
We are just trying to raise the
profile to get that attention
and I think what has happened
here recently has gotten a lot
more attention and
unfortunately, the forecasters
are not promising over the
winter that there will not be
enough snow or rain to really
raise the level significantly of
the river.
We are hoping for a rainy
spring.
Reporter: Mayor Jim Strickland
from Memphis, thank you for your
time.
We appreciate it.
>> Thank you.