THIBODAUX, LA (AP) — Lafourche Parish officials hope to see construction on a new saltwater control structure along Bayou Lafourche completed next summer.
The Daily Comet’s Meredith Burns reports the roughly $3.4 million construction contract with Cayo LLC, of Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded at Tuesday's Parish Council meeting.
The structure, which will be located in Lockport, is designed to block saltwater from creeping up Bayou Lafourche where it threatens local drinking water supply.
Saltwater-control structures work like floodgates, but instead of blocking flood waters, they're closed temporarily when a canal or bayou is found to be carrying water with too much salinity. The structures are used throughout Terrebonne and Lafourche to help control saltwater intrusion from the Gulf of Mexico and keep it from destroying interior freshwater swamps and marshes.
