An international design competition is offering $400,000 for ideas about how to improve Louisiana's waterways. The "Changing Course" design contest is reviewing proposals from around the world to rebuild the sinking basins south of New Orleans, while at the same time maintaining enough water for navigation and commerce.
Lens Reporter Bob Marshall says that the state can learn a lot from other areas that are facing the same challenges.
"All the Deltas on the planet are having similar problems," Marshall says. "They're facing sea level rise, they've been overdeveloped, and they're subsiding. So, if Louisiana can market it's expertise to show the type of intellectual power it has on these issues, these firms can begin to market themselves to the rest of the world when they begin to have their own problems."
The competition started in September with 21 teams, and there are now eight semi-finalists. By April, up to four winning teams will receive funding to fully develop their ideas, which could be included in the 2017 version of the state’s Master Plan for the Coast.
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