The Baton Rouge-based Water Institute of the Gulf will work with Deltares, a Netherlands-based water think tank, to develop a variety of coastal protection and restoration solutions that can be used in both countries and other locations around the world, the two organizations announced Monday.
At a ceremony at the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority building, where representatives of the two organizations, accompanied by Gov.
John Bel Edwards, signed a memorandum of understanding, the institutes committed to conducting research aimed at seven key water resource areas.
The agreement follows a series of more limited agreements between the two since the Water Institute was created in 2011.
As we work to save hundreds of square miles of Louisiana’s coast, we will attract thousands of jobs across the state and build the Water Campus as a global leader in the water management sector."
The agreement focus areas include: Integrated strategic water resources planning, including research on the effects of flooding and drought, and water pollution on communities, businesses and households.
This work will focus on tools to assist in ecosystem management, evaluation of restoration effectiveness and sediment management.
This goal aims at supporting contries and communities at local, national and regional levels.
Deltares has assisted in several of those efforts, and its scientists also have assisted the Army Corps of Engineers in the development of its levee upgrades and restoration projects in Louisiana and elsewhere.
The agreement also is seen as a continuation of efforts to brand Louisiana as a world resource for water management expertise.