low water levels affect's mississippi shipping

     in the articale "Low water on Mississippi threatens shipping" the writer's Jim Salter and Jim Suhr talk about how shipping all different food products such as wheat and corn will need to find different ways to make it there. The water level on the rivers that they usually use, are going down, harmimg the shippping prosess.
     "You cant just wait until it shuts down and suddenly say,'There's a problem," said the captain of the operations for Chicago-based Cargill Inc. Which is right, once it has happened you can't go back and try to change it. after the water is gone, you have to wait until the rain comes and make it go back up.
     The economy dollars will go up into the billions if the river gets shut down. it cuts of all shipping for food, fuel and other necceissitys, which causes the dollars to go up. that will hurt Mississippi bad.
     no rain has caused the water levels to go down. The Mississippi River and the Ohio River have not been getting enough of the rain fall which maintains the natural width span and water level. The width of the river has dropped from 1,000 feet plus, right down to just some hundreds of feet.
     The river's depth was normally 15-20 feet, but now without the rain, it has dropped to 13 feet. The horrifying level is 9 feet. if the water gets to be that shallow, the boats will not be able to travel on the rivers for a long while.
     The Hydrologists for the National Weather Service think that the Mississippi River will be at the 9 feet level by December 9.
     If the rain does not hurry up and fall and gspread across the river, it will cause lots of hardship and economic dollars an up-rising. People need to think of plans now before it's to late.