reinforcement

 

With an increasing river stage, extra material is brought in to reinforce the structural integrity of the levee.  Heavy machinery brings in loads of large granite rocks, and piles of something that looks like ground up granite mixed with sand (or maybe it’s just sand?).  The levee system has been designed to be protected from the yearly floods.  The flood level in Baton Rouge is 35ft, and the levees are at a height of about 48ft.  Last May, as the river rose to a record height, sandbags were placed along top of the levee to keep the water from spilling over into the city.

Water Level Flux

Water level in the north borrow pond on February 3rd.

Water level at same spot on February 12.

These two photos were taken about a week apart from each other, and show a noticeable change in water level.  As the river rises, water seeps through the soil into the borrow pits, causing their levels to rise as well.  The water has not yet flowed over the land that separates the borrow ponds from the river, rather the exchange happens underground.

As landscape architecture students, we understand that landscapes are constantly in a state of flux.  Located on the bank of the Mississippi River, Desoto Park is a site quite clearly in flux.  The river undergoes various cycles of change, which transform the appearance and usability of adjacent parcels of land on small and large scales.  The arpent system was created by French settlers along the Mississippi as a way for everyone to have access to the river, for its benefits as a means of transportation, but also because it was a system that allowed everyone to absorb some of the floodwater without being completely overcome by seasonal deluges.  Desoto Park absorbs the rising levels of the river during the flood season, which changes the site dramatically over the course of a year.  Today the edge is, for example, 485 feet west of the railroad tracks, but next week it could be at 480 feet, and by April and May, the water level will be at the base of the tracks.  The ground is not static, rather it a layered system in a constate state of flux.

 

Yearly Fluctuations

Every spring, the snow melt from the north flows down the Mississippi, flooding points south.  Below are google maps images that show how high the water rises in Desoto during the spring floods.

Desoto Park at high water, probably during the Spring flood of 2011.

 

The borrow ponds on the north end of the site. The water must be about 15 feet higher than it is now. Notice how close to the railroad tracks the water is.