February 21, 2023 St. Martin Parish
Today Harold Schoeffler and I made a trip to St Martin Parish to survey progress on the Joe Daigle Canal clearing, snagging, and dredging project being done by St Martin Parish. This project was proposed after the flood of 2016 by St Martin Parish.
Joe Daigle Canal Path
The Joe Daigle canal drains the southeastern area of the Cypress Island swamp into the Bayou Teche south of the Keystone dam. The dam is south of St Martinville. This canal provides a very valuable additional drain for the Cypress Island swamp. This drain is in addition to the Vermilion river and should take some drainage load off the river. We surveyed from La 96 to La 30 where the canal drains into the Teche. We were pleased to see and very happy to report the project almost completed and already working well.
Normally levels at the bayou are 2-3 ft above sea level. Today the difference between the LA 353 Lake Martin Road (a proxy for the Cypress Island Swamp) and the Bayou Teche-Joe Daigle canal confluence was approximately a 2.5 ft. drop. The flow to the Teche was estimated at 350-400 CFS this morning at the LA 96 bridge over the canal.
Below are some pictures and some data both measured and calculated. For example, the canal is moving about 15% of the total water drained by the Bayou Teche (at Keystone Dam) and the Vermilion (at Surrey Street) combined. With these improvements the Joe Daigle Canal now provides a significant regional drainage asset for the Teche Vermilion watershed. Thanks to St. Martin Parish for a job well done.
Vermilion River-Bayou Teche-Joe Daigle Canal Data
Photos North to South
LA96 at Joe Daigle Looking North to Cypress Island
LA96 at Joe Daigle Looking South to Bayou Teche
Joe Daigle at ULL Experiential Farm
LA30 at Joe Daigle Looking North to Spanish Lake and Cypress Island
LA96 at Joe Daigle Looking South to Bayou Teche
𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧
Dredge the Vermilion (DTV) is a non-profit setup to inform the public about the need to identify and to perform regional drainage projects in the Teche-Vermilion watershed.
The board of DTV are all citizen volunteers with varying backgrounds from engineering, business owners, business management, medical, and legal.
If you wish to help with our efforts please like and share our posts on Facebook(search “Dredge the Vermilion”) and please see our website at www.dredgethevermilion.org if you would like to make a donation. All donations help fund our website, Facebook and other marketing efforts, public outreach, and research.