VIDALIA — The U.S. Corps of Engineers will visit Concordia Parish next week to view spots on Cocodrie Bayou that may be contributing to flooding problems in the parish.

Cocodrie Bayou is the main drainage artery for the parish, and while there are pumps to remove the water in the south end of the parish, the problem so far has been getting the water to that point because the bayou is clogged in several places with logs and other organic debris.

Part of the reason something hasn’t been done so far is because the bayou is a protected scenic waterway, which means that a study has to be done before it can be dredged.

Those kinds of studies aren’t cheap, though, and the police jury has said it doesn’t have the kind of money needed to have one done.

“I am hoping that the corps will give us some kind of direction to go about finding what the cost of it is going to be, where we can begin to start applying for grants or to get money to repair Cocodrie Bayou,” Police Jury President Melvin Ferrington said.

Members of the jury and the local legislative delegation, a representative from Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office and parish Economic Director Heather Malone will meet with the corps at the courthouse Wednesday.

From there, the group will get on a tour bus and go view a weir on Wild Cow Bayou, a small weir on Cocodrie Bayou and some of the narrower parts in the bayou channel.

Ferrington said Emergency Director Morris White recently took a boat trip down the length of the bayou and took pictures, which he will have on hand to show the corps members.

“I feel sure they are going to recommend a short study,” Ferrington said.

Malone said she was planning to attend the meeting because quality of life and economic development go hand-in-hand, and that a lack of drainage was hurting the local economy.

“When I first got here, it was right after Hurricane Gustav, and when I started going to police jury meetings there were several people at the meetings concerned that their businesses were flooding,” she said.

“Also, our largest industry is agriculture, and our poor farmers had a hard time because these obstructions were not allowing the water in their fields to drain.”