Water Water Everywhere

Water is essential for life on earth and indeed water covers
two-thirds of our planet. We literally cannot live with out
it.  But living with it, managing it, trying to control it
and make it do what we want it to do is an ever present challenge
- especially in South Louisiana where we are surrounded by lakes,
rivers, bayous and a Gulf that is eating away at our battered
coastline and inching closer to our our inland areas. 


Scott Nesbitt is a wetlands ecologist and the owner of Natural
Resource Professionals, a consulting firm that provides
regulatory expertise to municipalities, industrial interests and
developers within South Louisiana. The firm’s regulatory
expertise includes conducting all surveys and site studies
required to identify jurisdictional wetlands and secure the
necessary permits from the US Army Corps of Engineers.


Scott is also an investor in and manager of the Spanish Lake
Mitigation bank, which helps drain much of Ascension and
Iberville parishes. Scott has been in the business since 1987,
 when the US Army Corps of Engineers officially recognized
wetlands as a regulated “Waters of the US”. Since that time, he
has gained widespread experience as a technical and regulatory
wetland specialist. 


Ken Rust is owner of Enterprise Aquatics, a Baton Rouge based
company that specializes in water and water management in several
distinct ways. Enterprise Aquatics has two subsidiaries: One,
Louisiana Pond Management, manages ponds and lakes, large and
small, for aesthetics, water quality, and sport fish
production.  The other is a new company  Small
Scale Aquaponics, which specializes in water based food
production, including aquaculture, aquaponics, and
hydroponics. 


Ken Rust is a native of Louisiana and a graduate of LSU with a
degree in aquaculture and fisheries. He has been in the water
business for more than two decades. 


Out to Lunch Baton Rouge is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs
on the Boulevard in Baton Rouge. You can see photos from this
show by Erik Otts at our website. And here's more lunchtime
conversation about Baton Rouge's ongoing struggles with water.


See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.