In 1903 Bayou Lafourche was cut off from the Mississippi. In the 1950s a pumping/siphon station was installed delivering 200 cfs. The lack of fresh water affected the natural hydrology and allowed salt water intrusion that in turn affected drinking water. In 2001 the Bayou Lafourche Diversion design, phase I "Design Report, Mississippi River Water Reintroduction Into Bayou Lafourche" was approved to study a diversion project. This would result in a draft feasibility report, a continuation of the $1,000,000 report issued in September 1998, and the projects head work structure would be in Donaldsonville, Ascension Parish, providing a year-round flow of 1,000 cfs. The project was sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) and run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This part of the project has currently been "de-authorized".