After decades of debate and multiple failed attempts, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is moving forward with a controversial project to address backwater flooding in Mississippi’s South Delta region.
The latest plan, detailed in a federal report released Nov. 29, would install high-volume pumps in the Yazoo Backwater Area, an agricultural region north of Vicksburg flanked by the Yazoo and Mississippi Rivers. That area has experienced severe inundations over the years, including a 2019 flood that affected roughly 600 residences and left more than 500,000 acres submerged. State officials estimate that the flood cost the local agriculture industry about $800 million.
The plan in the Corps’ Final Environmental Impact Statement aims to reduce flooding while minimizing harm to the area’s vast natural wetlands, which perform an array of ecological functions and rely on rain and floodwater for survival. Federal agencies have rejected previous versions of the Yazoo Pumps project because of their potential to damage those wetlands and the wildlife they house.
Corps officials say the new scheme, developed with the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal partners, strikes the right balance between flood management and conservation.
“Our collaborative approach … showcases the strength of interagency partnerships in developing solutions that reduce the flood risk to local communities and infrastructure, and safeguard our natural resources,” Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jaime Pinkham said in a Nov. 27 press release.
The new FEIS leaves key questions unanswered, however, including how much the latest Yazoo Pumps project is likely to cost. Mississippi lawmakers have previously estimated that the plan could be priced at half a billion dollars, while independent organizations believe the number to be higher still.
The Corps-backed project has also drawn fierce pushback from environmental groups, which have long argued that installing pumps in the backwater area would yield minimal flood-control benefits while decimating acres of natural habitat.
“This project … is a false promise for a very vulnerable part of Mississippi,” Audubon Mississippi Policy Director Jill Mastrototaro told the Mississippi Free Press on Dec. 4. “We’re dealing with some of the poorest, most disadvantaged communities in our nation, and these are community members that don’t have the means to get themselves out of harm’s way.”
How We Got Here
Federal flood-control efforts in Mississippi’s South Delta date back to the mid-20th Century, when the government proposed building a pumping system near the Yazoo River that would siphon water from flooded areas and deposit it downstream. That system was never completed, but the Corps did build the Steele Bayou control structure (a set of gates) along the Yazoo to keep Mississippi River water from backing up into the South Delta.
When the Mississippi River runs high, the Corps closes the Steele Bayou gates, preventing rain and other surface water north of the structure from draining and causing flooding in the region.
In recent decades, federal agencies have blocked proposals to introduce a pumping site in the backwater area. The EPA vetoed a version of the Yazoo Pumps scheme in 2008, citing the project’s anticipated toll on local wetlands protected under the Clean Water Act. The agency has flipped its stance on the project multiple times since then, first exempting it from the 2008 veto under the Trump administration and then restoring the veto when President Joe Biden took office.
Last year, however, sustained pressure from top Mississippi officials led the Corps and EPA to jointly devise the pumps proposal included in the new FEIS. Lawmakers singled out the 2019 flood and its fallout as the impetus for the revamped project.
What’s in the Plan
Under the recommended Water Management Plan in the FEIS, the Corps would build a pumping station near the Steele Bayou control structure to manage water levels in the Yazoo Backwater Area. The station would be operational year-round, but pumps would only run when backwater levels reach 90 feet above sea level during crop season (March 25 to Oct. 15) and 93 feet the rest of the year. By limiting pumping to those thresholds, the Corps hopes to leave enough groundwater to replenish local wetlands while still reducing flood risk in the area.
Additional mitigation steps in the plan include buying and reforesting up to 5,722 acres of “frequently flooded agricultural land,” the FEIS estimates. The Corps would also place 34 groundwater wells alongside streams in the northern part of the project area to “address a range of pre-existing habitat impairments” during the low-water season.
The Corps is offering to buy out property owners in flood-prone areas who may continue to see inundations under its proposal. Owners who choose not to sell would be eligible for “floodproofing” measures like home elevations, though the Corps notes that these properties could be inaccessible between October and March due to the higher backwater levels.
In all, as many as 233 commercial and residential properties in the Yazoo Backwater area could be eligible for voluntary buyouts under the Corps-backed pumps plan. The project also calls for moving a portion of Mississippi State Highway 462 and a bridge near the Steele Bayou structure to accommodate the proposed pumping station, which would be capable of displacing up to 25,000 cubic feet of water per second.
The Corps’ final pumps proposal has drawn praise from Mississippi lawmakers, who insist it will deliver sorely needed flood relief to some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
“For decades, the government promised flood control solutions to the people of the South Delta,” Sen. Roger Wicker said in a statement following the release of the FEIS. “Today’s announcement puts us one step closer to preventing further hardship, loss, and frustration in the region. It is time to finish the pumps.”
What’s Missing
While the FEIS devotes dozens of pages to certain aspects of the Corps’ plan, the document does not paint a full picture of the project or its long-term effects. Key omissions from the report include a price estimate for the proposed pumping station and a cost-benefit analysis for the overall project, which the Corps typically uses to evaluate flood-control proposals and justify their implementation.
Environmental groups say these gaps are part of a broader pattern of obfuscation by the Corps, culminating in the release of the FEIS during a holiday weekend.
“I can’t believe that they don’t know the ballpark cost,” Mastrototaro said. “It really reflects a continued disregard by a federal agency who is supposed to be soliciting authentic feedback and being transparent and accountable in a project that’s going to have massive impacts—not just on environmental resources, but (on) community members.”
To Mastrototaro and other environmentalists, the Corps-backed pumps plan is just the latest version of a long-running scheme to boost agricultural production in the South Delta. They say that while the pumps would fail to meaningfully reduce flooding in the region, draining acres of wetlands and other low-lying areas would allow local farmers to expand their fields, plant crops sooner and collect additional subsidies from the government.
“This is an ag-drainage project masquerading as flood control, pure and simple,” Sierra Club of Mississippi Director Louie Miller told the Mississippi Free Press on Dec. 4.
The FEIS is available for review on the Corps’ website until Dec. 30, and a final decision on the project is expected by the end of the year.
