In early 2009, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) constructed a rock barrier across the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO), a navigation channel between the Port of New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. In August 2008, prior to construction of the rock barrier, the LaWSC, in cooperation with the USACE, began monitoring specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, and discharge in the MRGO to assess potential effects of the barrier. In late 2009, the USACE constructed a hardened barrier across another section of the MRGO and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and is planning to build up the adjacent marsh with sediments dredged from nearby Lake Borgne. In 2010, the LaWSC began additional monitoring in the MRGO, GIWW, the Inner Harbor Navigation Channel (IHNC), Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne, and other adjacent waterways.