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A river gauge marks near record low water levels on the Mississippi River at New Orleans. It's many feet lower than it typically would be and it's creating all sorts of problems. L. Kasimu Harris for NPR hide caption
A river gauge marks near record low water levels on the Mississippi River at New Orleans. It's many feet lower than it typically would be and it's creating all sorts of problems.
L. Kasimu Harris for NPRThe extremes of climate change are wreaking havoc on the Mississippi.
Over the past two months, this critical waterway has seen below average rainfall. In some places, water levels haven't been this low for more than 30 years.
NPR's Debbie Elliot explains how that is helping the salty waters of the Gulf of Mexico push upriver, threatening municipal and commercial water supplies.
Then Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco and Eva Tesfaye, of The Mississippi River Basin Ag and Water Desk, show us how life on the river can be just as hard when climate change produces too much water.
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This episode was produced by Karen Zamora, Gabe O'Connor, Miguel Macias, Christine Arrasmith, Claire Murashima and Ayen Bior. It was edited by William Troop, Sami Yenigun, Neela Banerjee and Amy Isackson. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
