ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / July 17, 1999

LAPLACE-St. John the Baptist Parish is shrinking. According to Dr. Shea Penland, professor of geology at the University ofNew Orleans, St. John Parish is losing 26 feet of shoreline every year onLake Pontchartrain.

“The national average for shoreline erosion is 0.8 meters per year,” hesaid. “The southwest corner of the lake is losing about 10 times thenational average.”Penland said this side of the lake from Pass Manchac down to the Bonnet Carre Spillway is the “most eroded shoreline of Lake Ponchartrain.”Recently, Penland, Lake Ponchartrain Basin Foundation, and the U.S.Geological Survey did several studies on currents, wave action and storm damage. The results were not encouraging.”Every time this part of Louisiana gets a hurricane or a big winter storm, the southwest corner of the lake gets really hammered,” Penland observed.

“That, plus the wave and current action, really eats away at the shore line.”St. John the Baptist Parish Councilman Nickie Monica would like to put astop to this erosion. Recently, he proposed a resolution calling for theparish to endorse a project to reclaim the shoreline on the western edge of the lake. He has sent his reclamation proposal to the state Legislature,Congress and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.

“I would like to see the federal government help us finance a project to keep this shoreline intact,” Monica said. “I see this as an economic andrecreation project for the parish.”If Monica can get the money for the parish, he would like to have the shore protected by pieces of broken cement fill, similar to what homeowners have already put up on private property along the lake. He would like toextend this protection north of Peavine Road all the way up to the parish line at Pass Manchac.

“This is St. John Parish’s only access to the lake,” Monica emphasized, “andI would like to see the parish make the most of it.”Monica envisions more boat launches, picnic grounds, parks, housing and business all flocking to the shoreline of St. John Parish if the coastalerosion can be stopped.

Penland agrees that the concrete fill would help to stop the erosion. Thisis what he would call a “hard” solution using engineering.

“You could build breakwaters and use concrete fill,” he said, “but that would be damaging to the fisheries.”The concrete would stop development of marshes which is where the fish mate and lay eggs. “Solutions to the problem of erosion must be able tomaximize the fisheries,” he added. “We have to walk a fine line whenthinking of solutions to this problem.”Penland recommends a “softer” approach. He put forth the idea of dredgingthe bottom of the lake and using that material to build up a shoreline.

“This would create a natural shoreline. It would eventually wear away, butwe could build it up again,” he said. “But it would improve the marshlands.”Another soft approach to the problem that Penland proposes is to trap sediment every time the Corps of Engineers opens the spillway and use that material to rebuild the shoreline.

Using the spillway is also a solution put forth by Leroy Labat, the St. JohnParish representative on the board of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. He sees saltwater as one of the main culprits in the erosion ofthe lake’s shore.

“Saltwater intrusion from the Inter-Coastal Canal is killing all the vegetation that holds the shore together, ” he said. “But every time theyopen the spillway, this reduces the saltwater content of the lake.”Labat thinks maybe the U.S. Corps of Engineers could open the spillwaymore than they usually do, just to flush out the salt water.

Labat extends his thinking with an even more radical idea.

He proposes digging a canal next to the spillway connecting the lake to the Mississippi River.

“We could open the canal when the river is not too polluted and replenish the fresh water in the lake,” he said. “This would bring up the quality ofwater in the lake which is good for the vegetation and the oysters.”Cost for the canal would be about $18 million, and Labat doesn’t see getting that sort of money anytime soon.

So for now Labat backs Penland’s idea of dredging the lake and using the bottom material to build a natural shoreline. He also thinks the idea ofbroken concrete fill would help.

“We have to do something,” Labat said. “I remember 40 years ago when thelake used to be the main swimming hole in this parish. There was lots ofrecreation on the western shore. Lots of picnics, swimming, boating, andat night, lots of dancing.”And that’s the aim of those looking to better the situation. They’re seekinga resurgence of better times on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain.

Return To News Stories