Word: silting
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...could reach $111 billion. Southern Louisiana, which is losing land to the Gulf of Mexico at the alarming rate of one acre every 16 minutes, has already drawn up an ambitious mix of programs. In the biggest project, a $24 million pumping station would divert millions of gallons of silt-rich Mississippi River water onto the coastline to help stop saltwater intrusion and to supply sediment that will build up the eroding land. At least one parish is considering plans for a backstop dike to give residents time to escape should the sea finally reach their doors...
Poorer countries have fewer options. Wracked by periodic floods, Bangladesh cannot simply evacuate the "chars" -- bars of sand and silt in the Ganges Delta -- where millions of people have set up camp. But the government has drawn up plans for a network of raised helipads and local flood shelters to facilitate the distribution of emergency aid if, as seems inevitable, disaster strikes again. Meanwhile, the country can only appeal to its Himalayan neighbors to do something about the root cause of the flooding: the deforestation of watersheds in India and Nepal that has turned seasonal monsoons into "unnatural disasters...
...last year, a downpour sent near record floodwaters roaring along the spectacular gorge of the Williams, over the wall protecting the powerhouse and down into the turbine level. The water in the powerhouse fouled the turbine equipment and the vital compressors, which power the hydraulic systems, with stones and silt. The compressors had to be completely rebuilt...
...improved matters much. In June, responding to demands by the IMF, the government raised the price of wheat flour and reduced subsidies on nonessential goods. Angry citizens have taken to the streets to protest food shortages, lack of jobs and a 50% inflation rate. Although the rich silt deposited by the flood should give farmers a temporary boost after the waters subside, the economy's larger problems will not go away easily...
...southern slopes of the Himalayas in northern India, Nepal and Bhutan, where the hillsides have been ravaged by deforestation. With the denuded soil no longer able to absorb monsoon rains, the savage runoff increases year by year in speed and volume, bringing with it ever larger loads of silt that end up on the river bottoms of Bangladesh...