Midwestern droughts have reduced the flow of the Mississippi. Groundwater depletion has caused coastal land to sink below sea level. Sea-temperature increases raised the sea level in the Gulf. The result: rising ocean waters are out-competing the Mississippi flow, pushing up the riverbed, and will reach New Orleans’ water treatment plant. The city’s water supply will be undrinkable, while the salt leaches poisons out of lead pipes. They have one month.

We did this. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/29/climate/new-orleans-saltwater-map.html?unlocked_article_code=YY1Ts4O8PDO2TJgPZYi6Tldxm_uNeKHVvgkg4EgPZmqT4AIKqK7EMYfP3LFe8RlVhSfU8mpQK75rHcnO2Ox59Lh05bgzthiJxc73KZqvQ9bJmSIMPEWOxFuAtwqukSYV0BfzL9JQrhrd6XcwQTCudtCWFwvxKfcjU1ZqEaNS9S_71QVaQ1zkdCsp7W5wZgXlJs-fyw_ZrF8HZUbLGsUL_bV8eWANJDBKOhZu4adbPjbyrVfrF91XtjEPjBABQPHd4eQGKOm-l5i2jam7pF6XnLOGPKcq3Pr7dA81OEbDs-L4o533ERGdU2XtTXAKVqULiIxb2gm94xFRCud-sCrTwfRtD6OmhBWVyHYvvoRTBWmtUA&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Map: When Will the Saltwater Wedge Reach New Orleans?

The drought-stricken Mississippi River can no longer hold back the saltwater creeping upstream, contaminating drinking water.

The New York Times
@waldoj it’s not great but also there is work being done to fix it. Why are you being alarmist and not mentioning this happened before in 1988? Or the plans to mitigate? https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/saltwater-intrusion/construction-of-10-to-12-mile-pipeline-could-curb-saltwater-intrusions-impact-on-new-orleans/289-2b4024d1-63e8-467c-81b4-55cea17670e0
@StevenBarnhart @waldoj I don't see anything alarmist in the original post. It just passes on facts drawn from a news article. It's not the poster's job to reassure people if they find those facts alarming.
@anne_twain @waldoj well, a lot of “we did this” but I incorrectly assumed the poster had written the article.