MONTEREY, La. – Digging a canal to bypass Cocodrie Bayou may be the most workable solution to Concordia Parish’s drainage problem. Virtually all of the parish, a low-lying area surrounded by rivers, drains into Cocodrie Bayou, which extends from the Ferriday area to the Red River Wildlife Management Area in south Concordia. The water is then pumped into a diversion canal and, in turn, into Black River.

But Cocodrie Bayou is clogged with brush and silt, making it difficult for water even to get to the pumps. That results in flooding — especially in heavy rains like those that pummeled the area Nov. 8. And since the bayou is protected by the federal Scenic Waterways Act, it would be difficult to get a permit to dredge it.

So one solution now being discussed is construction of a new canal that would run from Hoover Slough southeast of Ferriday to Deer Park to the south end of Cocodrie Bayou.

&uot;Once it got to the bayou, the water would only be in Cocodrie for 1 mile, until it got to the diversion canal,&uot;&160;said Lee Bean, chairman of the parish drainage committee, and one of the idea’s major advocates. &uot;This would help the whole area by reducing the amount of water that comes into Cocodrie Bayou.&uot;

Even starting such a project could be several years away, he acknowledges. A river basin study of Concordia Parish being funded by the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service will probably include the new canal in its list of flooding solutions to research.

But that study will not start until 2002 and could take one year to complete.

Still, armed with such a study, the parish would be much more likely to get funding for such projects, NRCS officials said during a public meeting held in February to gauge public support for the study.

Neither Kevin Bridgewater, director of the Ferriday NRCS office, nor Marlin Jordan, an NRCS representative for northeast Louisiana, could be reached for comment Thursday.

&uot;Hopefully, we would get matching funds from the government and would allowed to count in-kind work toward our match,&uot; said Bean, adding his committee would be glad to work with the study’s local steering committee on such solutions.

&uot;Perhaps we could obtain rights-of-way without any cost to the project. And if money is limited, we could do it in stages.&uot;

Drainage committee member B.D. King, also of Monterey, said he favors the idea of building another canal.

&uot;I agree totally,&uot;&160;King said. &uot;It’s the best solution we’ve got.&uot;