Reports

Spanning an array of subjects and formats, The Water Institute of the Gulf’s reports provide an in-depth look at the work we do. Please refer to Our Projects to learn more about individual projects.

Borrow Pits on Estuarine Sediment Dynamics, Barataria Bay, Louisiana

The report summarizes the analysis to evaluate the consequences of borrowing sediment from inter-distributary bays in the Mississippi River Delta Plai...

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Lower Coast OCS Offshore Sand Source Survey

The goal of the project was to assist in a multi-agency response to categorizing sediment resources offshore for development of policies and inventori...

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Texas General Land Office Central Coast Outer Continental Shelf Offshore Sand Source Survey

Through a grant from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the Texas General Land Office (GLO) contracted Aptim Environmental & Infrastruc...

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Lowermost Mississippi River Management Program Regional Sediment Management Below Venice

The Mississippi River has traditionally been managed separately in a partitioned manner, for navigation, flood risk reduction, and ecosystem restorati...

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GCECR Kick-Off workshop Report

The Gulf Center for Equitable Climate Resilience (GCECR)1 Kick-Off Workshop was held to expand individual’s and organization’s networks across the nor...

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Sediment Infilling Rate of Lowermost Mississippi River Borrow Pits and Impacts on Downstream Dredging

The work presented in this report uses numerical models and field observations to investigate the governing processes that control borrow pit infilli...

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Development of a Hydrodynamic Model for Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne to Inform Gulf Sturgeon Habitat Characterization

Gulf sturgeon (Acipenser oxyinchus desotioi) are a sub-species of Atlantic sturgeon (A. o. oxyrinchus) with a range in the northern Gulf of Mexico tha...

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Inter-Model Comparisons Between Physical and Numerical Models

This report was developed by The Water Institute (the Institute) for the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) under Task Order 69 Lower...

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Enhancing Benefits Evaluation for Water Resources Projects: Toward a More Comprehensive Approach for Nature-Based Solutions

To accelerate progress and delivery of new and enhanced infrastructure projects for navigation, flood risk management, water operations, and ecosystem...

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Long-term strategic plan for the Capital Area Ground Water Conservation Commission Phase 2A Final Report

The Capital Area Ground Water Conservation Commission engaged The Water Institute to aid in creating a strategic plan for proactive management of the ...

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Guidance for Coastal Ecosystem Restoration and Monitoring to Create or Improve Bird-Nesting Habitat

More than 100 facilitated calls and working sessions were conducted over a period of more than two years. These conversations included input from bird...

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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research & Redevelopment strategy: Laying the foundation for a new bold era of USACE R&D

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has a trusted history of developing innovative solutions to the Nation’s toughest engineering challenges. Sin...

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Lowermost Mississippi River Management Program

This study was conducted by the Water Institute of The Gulf (the Institute) for the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana (CPRA), ...

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Application Plan: Structured Decision Making to Co-Produce an Actionable Science Plan in Support of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama Coastal System Water Quality Management Research

This Application Plan outlines the engagement of the RM working group to guide the development and application of a decision-support and model framewo...

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Research and Development Plan: Decision Making to Co-Produce an Actionable Science Plan in Support of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama Coastal System Water Quality Management Research

The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR), Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, Alabama Department of Conservation and ...

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Lowermost Mississippi River Management Program Strategies and Scenarios Workplan

This report summarizes a workplan to evaluate how various high-level strategies for managing water and sediment in the Lowermost Mississippi River (LM...

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Economic & Policy Analysis of Development Standards & Other Mitigation Activities: Implementation Recommendations

The Louisiana Watershed Initiative seeks to establish a watershed-based approach to flood risk reduction in Louisiana, using scientific tools and data...

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Consequence Analysis of a Hypothetical Portfolio of Climate Strategies

The Louisiana Climate Initiatives Task Force (Task Force) was established by Governor John Bel Edwards in August 2020 through Executive Order JBE 2020...

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Consequence Analysis of the Draft Portfolio of Climate Strategies and Actions

The Louisiana Climate Initiatives Task Force (Task Force) was established by Governor John Bel Edwards in August 2020 through Executive Order JBE 2020...

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Lowermost Mississippi River Management Program Strategy and Scenario Development Overview

This technical memorandum first describes the collaborative process used by the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), the Wat...

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LA TIG Monitoring and Adaptive Management Strategy

The purpose of the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group (LA TIG) Monitoring and Adaptive Management (MAM) Strategy is to outline an approach for the...

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Southeast Conservation Blueprint Mechanics

The Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS) was formed in fall 2011 by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) ...

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Improving SECAS Gulf-wide Integration

This technical report summarizes the effort carried out by The Water Institute of the Gulf (“the Institute”) for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (U...

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Application of the SECAS Gulf-wide Data Suite in Restoration Planning

The Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS) was formed in fall 2011 to improve the health, function, and connectivity of southeastern U.S. ...

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Advancement of the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS) for Project-Scale Planning: Chandeleur Islands (Breton National Wildlife Refuge) Restoration

This study had two primary goals: 1) to develop and evaluate metrics for characterizing the restoration and conservation value of barrier islands that...

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Understanding the Long-Term Evolution of the Coupled Natural-Human Coastal System

The U.S. Gulf of Mexico Coast (hereafter referred to as “the Gulf Coast”) provides a valuable setting to study deeply connected natural and human inte...

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Mechanics of the Southeast Conservation Blueprint

The goal of the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS) is to improve the health, function, and connectivity of southeastern ecosystems by ...

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ICM-Wetlands, Vegetation, and Soils Model Improvement

As part of the model improvement effort for the 2023 Coastal Master Plan, the wetland processes captured by the morphology and vegetation models used ...

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Barrier Island System Management (BISM)

The Barrier Island System Management (BISM) program has been developed by the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) through fa...

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Identifying Sediment Sources and Optimizing Placement of Dredge Material to Protect Critical Infrastructure – Port of Lake Charles

This report covers data collection, analysis, and modeling conducted by The Water Institute of the Gulf (the Institute) in the Calcasieu Ship Channel ...

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Science-based Decision Support for Restoration and Conservation Planning in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

There are currently multiple large mechanisms to support restoration and land conservation in the northern Gulf of Mexico. To ensure that environmenta...

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Numerical Modeling of the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Coastal System (LMACS)

Through the support of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Restoration Center, the Water Institute of the Gulf ("the Institute”) developed...

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Urban, Water, and Social Integration Plan for Quilmes

In May 2019, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation approved a $75,000 grant to Tulane University and the Institute to support work in developing a plan to r...

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A Community-Informed Framework for Quantifying Risk and Resilience in Southeast Louisiana

This study integrates the multi-attributed aspects of coastal risk—economic, social, and environmental—into a unified coastal resilience assessment fr...

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Finding the Means: Investment and Adaptation in Vulnerable Communities

Facing multiple challenges from rising seas to repetitive flooding, a new issue paper from the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law & Policy an...

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Monitoring Plans for Louisiana's System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP) Version IV

The purpose of this report is to describe the development of a coastwide monitoring plan for Louisiana with specific implementation recommendations fo...

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Framework for a Long-term Strategic Plan for the Capital Area Groundwater Conservation Commission

The Capital Area Groundwater Conservation Commission oversees the use of groundwater in six parishes in Louisiana. In carrying out its statutory respo...

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Louisiana Adaptive Management Status and Improvement Report: Vision and Recommendations

In developing the vision and recommendations for implementation of adaptive management, the Institute gathered experts in adaptive management from the...

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Planning for Ecosystem-based adaptation in Taveuni, Fiji

This synthesis report provides an overview of the first seven steps used to identify, prioritise, and implement ecosystem-based adaptation projects in...

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Planning for ecosystem-based adaptation in Honiara, Solomon Islands

This synthesis report provides an overview of the first seven steps involved to identify, prioritise, and implement ecosystem-based adaptation project...

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Planning for ecosystem-based adaptation in Port Vila, Vanuatu

This synthesis report provides an overview of the first seven steps involved to identify, prioritise, and implement ecosystem-based adaptation project...

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Development of Real Time Forecasting System

Real-Time Forecasting tools that use weather forecasts and hydrological or coastal numerical models are powerful tools that can provide the opportunit...

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Transplanting Communities Facing Environmental Change: An Annotated Bibliography on Resettlement

Through hurricanes, floods, oil spills and other hazards, the people of Louisiana’s coast have one of the highest rates in the country of people livin...

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Geomorphic Evolution of the Coupled Raccoon Pass and West Belle Pass Barrier Spit, Louisiana

Made of the remnants of former Mississippi River Deltas, barrier islands stretch across Louisiana’s coast. As a first line of defense against storm su...

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Assessing the Cost of Coastal Land Creation Using Dredged Material

This report looks at the number of factors that influence the cost of building coastal land using dredged material and recommends cost-saving measures...

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Coastwide and Barataria Basin Monitoring Plans for Louisiana's System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP)

The purpose of the Coastwide and Barataria Basin Monitoring Plans for Louisiana’s System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring (SWAMP) Version II is to descr...

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Creating a System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program for Coastal Louisiana (SWAMP)

A System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP) is being developed to ensure a comprehensive network of coastal data collection activities to ...

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Synthesis Report Series: Trends in oil and gas infrastructure, ecosystem function, and socioeconomic wellbeing in coastal Louisiana

Understanding historical changes in infrastructure density, ecosystem function, and socioeconomic wellbeing in coastal Louisiana can support better ma...

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Diversion Expert Panel Report #7

The Expert Panel on Diversion Planning and Implementation (Panel)  met for a seventh time on August 31, 2016 with a follow-up discussion on September ...

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Methodology for Producing a Coastal Louisiana Report Card

The Water Institute of the Gulf, with guidance and input from the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, was tasked to develop methodology for ...

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Diversion Expert Panel Report #5

The Expert Panel on Diversion Planning and Implementation met for a fifth time on August 4 to provide expert advice to the state on issues pertaining ...

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Scenario Building Workshops

During the spring of 2014, The Water Institute of the Gulf conducted scenario-building workshops to help key stakeholders and coastal communities iden...

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CPRA Data Management Plan

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) creates, consumes, and disseminates large amounts of electronic data during its day-to-day ope...

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Building community and coastal resilience to a changing Louisiana coastline through restoration of key ecosystem functions

Bridging scientific working groups with community input, the “Building community and coastal resilience to a changing Louisiana coastline through rest...

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Diversion Expert Panel Report #6

The Expert Panel on Diversion Planning and Implementation met for a sixth time on October 27-28, 2016 to provide expert advice to the state on issues ...

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Diversion Expert Panel Report #2

The Expert Panel on Diversion Planning and Implementation met for a second time from April 29 to May 1, 2014 to provide expert advice to the state on ...

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Expert Panel on Greater New Orleans Hurricane & Storm Damage Risk Reduction System Design Guidelines

An independent technical peer review was conducted of the design guidelines used to develop the New Orleans Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction ...

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SWAMP Version III

The purpose of this report is to describe the development of a coast wide monitoring plan for Louisiana with specific implementation recommendations f...

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An Approach to Identifying Environmental and Socio-economic Performance Measures for Coastal LA

This report identifies key indicators that can be used to track the progress of CPRA's programs and achieve the goals of restoration and protection de...

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Social Impact Assessment Methodology for Diversions and other Louisiana Coastal Master Plan Projects

The Water Institute of the Gulf convened an expert panel to help develop a methodology for conducting social impact assessments for sediment diversion...

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Researching Uncertainties Related to Sediment Diversions

This project, funded by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), focused on the development of a work plan to address critical technic...

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SWAMP Version I

The System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP) has been envisioned as a long-term monitoring program to ensure a comprehensive network of c...

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Louisiana Coastal Adaptation Toolkit

The Louisiana Coastal Adaptation Toolkit, co-authored by Craig E. Colten and Garrett C. Wolf, is designed as a general reference that provides resourc...

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Diversion Expert Panel Report #4

The Expert Panel on Diversion Planning and Implementation met for a fourth time from February 11 to February 13, 2015, to provide expert advice to the...

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Risk Reduction for Water-Based Hazards Latin America & Caribbean

The Water Institute of the Gulf released a report that proposes collaboration among organizations and coastal communities in Louisiana and Latin Ameri...

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Diversion Expert Panel Report #1

The Expert Panel was organized and established by The Water Institute of the Gulf to provide independent advice as plans are refined for implementing ...

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Into the Blue 2050

Baton Rouge and the Capital Region possess a tremendous environmental and economic asset in our freshwater resources. If we act now in a collaborative...

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Peer Review of Analytical Model Technical Reports

As part of development of its 2012 Coastal Master Plan, the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority sponsored the development of a suit...

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Diversion Expert Panel Report #3

The Expert Panel on Diversion Planning and Implementation met for a third time from October 27 to October 29, 2014 to provide expert advice to the sta...

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Science and Engineering Plan

This document identifies the principles, goals, and priorities that will govern The Water Institute’s initial research activities for the state of Lou...

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Review of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Hurricane Storm Damage Risk Reduction Evaluation (September 2012)

In response to requests from Senator David Vitter and Colonel Ed Fleming, The Water Institute of the Gulf engaged in an ‘over the shoulder review’ of ...

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Adaptive Management Framework for Coastal Louisiana

The Water Institute of the Gulf, with guidance and input from the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) and from an Adaptive Management ...

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National Flood Insurance Program: Impact of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012

Concern over the changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) imposed by the Biggert-Waters Reform Act of 2012 (BW-12) that likely will impo...

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Future Costs of Marsh Creation Projects in Coastal Louisiana

This study looks at how costs of marsh creation can change over time and some of the factors that influence those changes. Done for the Coast Builders...

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