General DNR News

Department of Natural Resources has river model as research tool

A small scale physical model of the Mississippi River Delta---imagine that as a tool for coastal restoration.

Done. Researchers and scientists are now well on their way to seeing this concept take shape, work, and provide some answers to the state’s coastal restoration program.

The river model was unveiled in December 2003 by DNR and LSU officials. The model was constructed in Grenoble, France and shipped to the state for re-assembly. LSU will house and maintain the small physical model as tests are run, data is collected and compiled and research is gathered.

DNR Assistant Secretary of the Office of Coastal Restoration and Management Randy Hanchey said the model is able to give us faster results and is particularly useful in predicting how freshwater and sediment diversions can help restore the marshes.

The project was sponsored by DNR and LSU’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in collaboration with engineering consultants Brown, Cummingham and Gannuch, Inc. and Coastal Restoration Consultants (CRC). The total cost of the project was $650,000 which included design, construction and shipping of the model.

Here are a few photos of the project:

		A close-up view of the model at Head of Passes where the Mississippi River splits into three channels before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.
WAFB-TV (Baton Rouge) reporter Allen Tumey interviews DNR Assistant Secretary Hanchey during the tour and unveiling ceremonies of the river model. The event was held on December 18, 2003.		Sultan Alam observes the preliminary operation of the model in the construction phase. Alam was involved from the inception of the project and is a consultant of hydraulic structures, river-engineering and coastal restoration.
DNR project manager Shannon Dupont and Coastal Engineering Division Director Christopher Knotts review the model of river in Sogreah’s laboratory in Grenoble, France in July 2003.