Water is driven to find the shortest and quickest course from
source to mouth and the Mississippi River is no exception. The
river is fighting against modern engineering as it continues to
crest. If it were allowed to flow freely, New Orlean's
Atchafalaya River would capture the main flow of the
Mississippi. However, thanks to a feat of modern engineering,
the great river is forced to follow its current path through
Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Some researchers believe the
likelihood of major flooding increases each year due to this
tension between water and engineering. Craig Colten is Carl O.
Sauer professor of Geography at Louisiana State University and
author of "An Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans from
Nature."