Old River Control Structure

The Old River Control Structure (ORCS) is a floodgate system located in a branch of the Mississippi River in central Louisiana. It regulates the flow of water leaving the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya River, thereby preventing the Mississippi river from changing course. Completed in 1963, the complex was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a side channel of the Mississippi known as "Old River," between the Mississippi's current channel and the Atchafalaya Basin, a former channel of the Mississippi.

Read more about Old River Control Structure:  Purpose, Components, Operation

Famous quotes containing the words river, control and/or structure:

    but we wish the river had another shore,
    some further range of delectable mountains,
    Robert Lowell (1917–1977)

    There are many things children accept as “grown-up things” over when they have no control and for which they have no responsibility—for instance, weddings, having babies, buying houses, and driving cars. Parents who are separating really need to help their children put divorce on that grown-up list, so that children do not see themselves as the cause of their parents’ decision to live apart.
    Fred Rogers (20th century)

    A structure becomes architectural, and not sculptural, when its elements no longer have their justification in nature.
    Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918)