New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell signed an emergency declaration Friday in response to concerns that salt water encroaching upriver could affect the availability of safe drinking water in the coming weeks. Treasure hunters comb the shoreline of the Mississippi River after it was exposed by low water levels on October 18, 2022 near Portageville, Missouri. Around 2,000 residents in Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans, were already relying on bottled water this summer after salt water infiltrated the area's water systems. The mouth of the Mississippi River sits substantially below sea level, which means some salt water from the Gulf of Mexico naturally creeps inland. Salt water is denser than fresh water, so it flows like a wedge along the riverbed underneath the fresh water of the Mississippi.

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Persons: Stephen Murphy, LaToya Cantrell, Murphy, we've, John Bel Edwards, Nature, Col, Cullen Jones, We've Organizations: Tulane University's School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine, Louisiana Gov, Army Corps of Engineers, Army Corps, Corps, New, New Orleans District Locations: Mississippi, Tiptonville, Tenn, New Orleans, Louisiana, Gulf, Mexico, Portageville , Missouri, Belle Chasse, Plaquemines Parish, Lower Mississippi