Little River Diversion Channel

Olson, Morton, and Speigel have recently published an article in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, concerning the Headwaters Diversion channel AKA Little River Diversion Channel in Southeast Missouri.  The channel diverts upland flow from the Castor and Whitewater Rivers along with a number of other small tributaries and prevents them from flowing through the Missouri and Arkansas Delta area.

The diversion was one of the keys to draining the Delta and making it more productive agriculturally.  The down side of many drainage and flood control projects is that these projects often transfer a problem from one place to another.  In this case, flood elevations on the Mississippi River are increased from Cape Girardeau, Missouri to Helena Arkansas because of adding 1.2 million acres of drainage area to the flow.  Click on the link to read the article Missouri Ozark Plateau HeadwatersDiversion Engineering Feat