The Yazoo Backwater Area Water Management Project is gaining momentum. Led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the project aims to reduce flooding in the delta.

In 2019, about 200,000 hectares of land and 686 houses were flooded in the region.

Peter Nimrod, chief engineer of the Mississippi Levee Commission, spoke to The Post about the project’s current status following a series of public meetings held in Rolling Fork and Vicksburg in July.

“We maintain 212 miles of levees, and we also do minor maintenance on about 350 miles of inland streams to maintain drainage in the Delta,” he said.

The latest development in the project is the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The document details the environmental impacts of the project, both desirable and undesirable. It was prepared by the USACE with input from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

According to DEIS, “Project implementation is expected to reduce the depth and duration of floods, and these changes are expected to impact wetland functions. However, the establishment of wetland restoration measures is expected to offset these declines.”

According to Nimrod, establishing a wetland restoration plan was a necessary step to obtain approval of all authorities involved for the project.

Wetland restoration is the process of restoring, enhancing, or creating new wetlands to compensate for the loss of wetland functions, values, or area elsewhere.

USACE held several meetings in both Rolling Fork and Vicksburg in July to receive public comments on the project and the new document.

At the meetings, the speakers described four options for the further course of the project.

The first option was to simply not change the current system. The second option was to build the pumps necessary to prevent the flooding and allow for a March 16-October 15 harvest season (the flooding has significantly impacted agriculture in the area). The third option was to build the pumps but keep them operating in a way that allows for a March 25-October 15 harvest season. The fourth option would essentially allow for voluntary acquisition of buildings and cleared land in the 2019 flood map.

Nimrod said all 69 people who spoke publicly during the comment period of the meetings supported either option two or option three.

“This is the last piece of the puzzle. And it’s been going on since the mid-1980s, and, you know, politics and weird things got involved and things blocked it. It’s been kind of a nightmare,” Nimrod said.

Nimrod said they are ready to move forward, but the next step in the project will be the publication of the final environmental impact statement.

In early August, USACE announced a 15-day extension of the public comment period for DEIS. Originally scheduled to end on August 12, the new deadline for submitting comments is now August 27.

After numerous requests to extend the public comment period, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works (ASA-CW) Michael Connor has determined that an extension of the public comment period on the Yazoo Backwater DEIS is warranted, USACE officials said.

“The importance of this project and its profound impact on the ground justify the need for additional time to obtain input from the community and other interested stakeholders,” Connor said.

The Vicksburg Post will continue to provide updates on the project as they become available.