Since then, nothing has changed. Deere, 44 years old, takes her dogs out on two occasions a day to go for walks. However, she keeps the smallest dog at home because of alligators living in the water. She said that this way of living is not sustainable. She said, “Emotionally I have good and bad days.” “Some days are good, and some days are hard. Some days I just want to stay. I just want to die and lay down. This is not an option. Record-breaking rainfall this year has resulted in persistent flooding. The Mississippi River at Vicksburg has remained above flood stage for more than 114 consecutive day. This is the level at which massive flooding can occur. According to the Mississippi River Levee Board, this is the longest stretch since 1927. It has also reached its highest level since 1973. Despite the extreme flooding of 2019, the flooding in the Yazoo Backwater Area, as this area is known, occurs almost every year. It has flooded five times in the Yazoo backwater area since 2000. The standing water has been a problem for many months for the Mississippi Delta’s southern region. They have tried to bring attention to their situation via community meetings and social networks, but to no avail. The river has destroyed 550,000 acres of Mississippi Delta farmland and more than 500 homes. According to the National Weather Service, it is expected that it will rise again this week and enter a major flood stage. These waters won’t recede until at most July. Peter Nimrod (chief engineer of the levee board) said that it was unbelievable to see the scale of this and the number of homes and roads that have been flooded. He also noted that the floodwaters will continue to rise and that the water levels could reach as high as a hundred miles. Locals call it “the forgotten flood”, as it occurs amid other natural disasters that have caused millions of dollars in damage in the Midwest over the past few months. This has also brought the nation to attention. There is an alternative. Many residents in this region believe that there is a solution for their yearly flooding problems. However, the government must cut through the bureaucracy to implement it. Deere and other locals believe that the unfinished U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project, the Yazoo Pumps (a drain for the Delta’s levee system), would stop floodwaters from threatening nearly 20,000 residents. On Wednesday, Senator Cindy Hyde Smith wrote to President Donald Trump asking for approval for temporary pumps. She cited the pumps that were installed in New Orleans by the Corps after Hurricane Katrina as an example. This letter didn’t include any details about costs or the impacts on wetlands which have been long blocked from such a project. However, environmental advocates and civil servants with long experience working on the project argue that the pumps are expensive, draining thousands of acres of crucial wetland that support one of the best wildlife habitats in the nation. It has been debated since the 1980s, and frustration and anger have grown with each passing year. Residents in the area, farmers, and politicians from Mississippi are calling for the revival. The pumps were vetoed in 2004 by George W. Bush’s Administration. They were called “one the worst projects ever designed by Congress” by Senator John McCain in 2004, and repeatedly decried by environmental activists. Many believe that the Trump administration’s renewed interest in the pump project will allow it to be revived despite the many obstacles. A few local entrepreneurs have gone as far as to request two billboards with the message: “President Trump, please finish the pumps!” After being asked by the Mississippi congressional delegation, Trump announced that the Environmental Protection Agency would examine the project. Deere now wants the government’s swift action to build the pumps. This is despite fears of environmental degradation and the cost of four years and hundreds millions of dollars. “No one is asking that the Delta not flood. Nobody is trying to drain the wetlands. Nobody is trying to eradicate the pondberry bush or the gnat. Deere stated that no one is trying to end waterfowl hunting, as we also duck hunt. “We want what they promised.” Is it a silver bullet? Since 1941, the pumps have been a long-standing civil works project in this region. Although they were never constructed, the Corps reviewed plans for them in every decade that followed the 1970s, often with the guidance of Mississippi politicians. This is still true. The Mississippi senators, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde Smith, are Republicans. Also, Rep. Bennie Thompson (a Democrat representing the Delta region and Republican governor) is a supporter of the pumps. Phil Bryant and Roger Wicker have both recently supported the pumps. It is also a hot topic in the Mississippi governor’s race. Leonard Shabman, a water- and environmental researcher who has been working with the EPA and Corps on pumps since the 1980s, said that it’s “like the third rail in Mississippi politics: You must be for the pumps.” The current administration has been pushed by Mississippi politics to act. Many pointed out that 22 pumps funded by the federal government are located within 200 miles from the Yazoo backwater. Except here, every levee system in lower Mississippi Valley is home to a pump plant. These levees create a bowl-shaped shape at different locations, which can then fill up with water during flood events. According to the Mississippi Levee Board, a pump is the only way to drain this water away. It is required in this area. In an email, an EPA spokeswoman stated that the agency had taken note of the “economical and disruptive effects” of the Mississippi flooding. She also said that they were working to find solutions. She wrote that “The Agency strongly supports” the goals of flood protection and wetland protection to the Mississippi Delta residents. She wrote that “EPA will work together with the Corps and local Levee Boards to review updated data as it relates our regulatory programs, oversight.” Although the topic of pumps is a frequent topic, environmental protection advocates and former civil service workers who have worked on it for decades don’t believe it will come up again since the Bush administration vetoed them in 2008. This was the 12th time that a project had been vetoed by the Clean Water Act. A federal court upheld the EPA’s right to veto the project in 2011 when the Mississippi Levee Board sued. Ben Grumbles (the former assistant administrator for water in the EPA and Maryland secretary of the environment) said that he proudly signed the decision when it was time to veto the project. This decision was made after the Mississippi Levee Board sued the EPA in 2011. Republican Larry Hogan. Conservationists believe the Delta’s hardwood wetlands are one of the most valuable ecosystems in the nation. These wetlands are home to 20% of the country’s duck species. They also support 450 species of birds and 257 other species. According to the EPA’s veto the pumps could decimate them. The EPA stated that 67,000 acres could be drained if pumps were installed. Shabman’s report was also commissioned by the agency. It concluded that, even though the pumps would guarantee that the area will never flood again, the money saved would not be enough to justify the project. Now, Congress would need to approve the pumps, which are estimated to cost more than $300 million. This or the possibility of an EPA veto being overturned, which is rare and could lead to a long court battle with environmentalists. Many who have been following the case for years say that the pumps are a pipedream. Melissa Samet, Senior Counsel at the National Wildlife Federation, said that there are many reasons why the pumps are bad. “But worst of all, it gives people suffering from flooding hope.” Jack Branning, 87, is the owner of his 2,500-acres of land near the Delta National Forest. He has owned them since 1996. Although there is 5-10 feet of water on some parts of Branning’s property, flooding has been a problem since he began farming in the area. He noted that floodwaters have reached an extraordinary high level in 10 of the past 11 years. Branning entered his property in the Wetlands Preserve program in 1999 because of the rising floodwaters. This provides compensation for land that he cannot farm, if it is allowed to be reforested. He said that the program had added value to the land as the land had been cleared and was unsuccessfully farmed for many years. It may be able to survive for two years, but then it will get overwhelmed by the high water and it won’t thrive. It was farmed for three years by me, and it did not do well.” Branning stated that he is happy that the pump is helping the environment. He also noticed that some wildlife has returned which is good news for him as a hunter. Branning believes he is better off than his neighbors but he supports the pumps. He said, “I try to understand everyone’s point of views.” It all depends on how you see the world. Shabman’s report on potential alternatives to the EPA included ideas such as buyouts, wetland reforestation, raised homes, and roads. However, environmental advocates claim that local leaders weren’t interested in exploring such ideas as they were not accompanied by expensive construction contracts, which would have only benefitted a few people in Mississippi. Grumbles stated that the EPA vetoed the 2008 EPA Act in order to allow federal agencies to seek new solutions. Grumbles stated in his statement that alternative, nonstructural flood control measures, as well as measures that did not involve large pumps (which would drain so much of the wetlands), never gained much traction. In the decade following the veto, however, nothing constructive occurred. Shabman said that the expense of the project made it unlikely that the pumps would have been funded. “The veto ended the project. There was no alternative. He said that no one suggested an alternative. Shabman believes that Trump’s administration has little chance of coming up with an answer. He said that it was possible to do something with the current authorization, which would pass Congress, that could be done among FEMA, EPA and USDA. It could even get funded. “But I don’t think there’s that much creativity within this administration,” he said. The debate is irrelevant to the Mississippi Delta residents whose homes have been destroyed or are under threat. Mike Brown, a long-time resident, works as a trucker on 700 acres near Redwood and grows corn and soybean. He said that these options ignore the fact that his home is gone. Brown claims that he has lost thousands of dollars by renting a house in Vicksburg, where he lives now. Since he was forced to leave his home and give up a part of his livelihood, he has only received $500 from Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Brown said that the government should finish what they started and finish the pumps. He recently discovered a casket floating in floodwaters. The flooding seems to be getting worse each year. It is really threatening our livelihood. I also have cattle and do some farming. It has done everything it can to damage everything.”