The finding does not suggest it would be pointless to divert the muddy water into the marshes, one of the researchers said because any meaningful restoration of our coast has to involve river sediment. But officials would have to choose which parts of the landscape could be saved and which must be abandoned, and to acknowledge that lives and businesses would be disrupted. Instead of breaking levees far south of New Orleans, where relatively few people live, officials have to consider diversions much closer to New Orleans, possibly into the LaFourche, Terrebonne or St. Bernard basins.

The extent to which inland dams have had an impact on sediment flow has been debated. Although sediment in the river is only about half what it was in the 18th and 19th centuries, some scientists have argued that the flow back then was unusually high because of the advent of farming in the nation?EUR??,,????'?????<