With each hurricane, a little more of New Orleans and the surrounding area washes out to sea. But according to scientists as the University of Texas-Austin, the answer to the Big Easy’s disappearing delta could lie at the bottom of the Mississippi River.

A computer model of a disputed plan to reroute sediment-filled water to the delta area from the river channel downstream of the city shows such a measure just might work, according to a National Science Foundation press release. While naysayers have said the river’s sediment is too depleted by dams on the upper Mississippi to do much rebuilding, the model showed the plan could effectively reclaim about half the acreage expected to disappear over the next century, according to the release.

“These authors present the possibility that through numerical modeling, coordinated with river channel diversions on the Mississippi Delta, we can begin to restore wetlands and build new land,” stated H. Richard Lane, program director in NSF's earth sciences division.

The report, led by geologists David Mohrig and Wonsuck Kim, was released in the American Geophysical Union’s Eos this week. NSF funded the research.

In addition, rebuilding the delta could also provide protection for storm surges occurring up river, regaining some of the natural balance lost to levees built below New Orleans, the release stated.

Meanwhile downriver, Plaquemines Parish has a similar idea for protecting itself by using the Mississippi to rebuild marshes and barrier islands that could slow the approach of a storm. Not only would the idea—which also includes a cypress-lined ridge—be a novelty in hurricane mitigation, it would also be cheaper and quicker to build than projects proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to an article in USA Today.

“They're demonstrating how this could effectively be done,” Office of Coastal Activities Director Garret Graves told USA Today.

Computer simulations of 38 Parish projects planned by the Army Corps found those projects would reduce storm surge by only about half a foot in most places. The new natural barrier model—which was developed with help from Louisiana State University’s Hurricane Center—showed up to six feet of surge protection, cost savings of $500,000, and a completion date of about 30 years earlier than the Army Corps’, according to the article.

Although there has been concern from environmentalists about how building the barricades might effect wetlands in the area, the Army Corps was unruffled by the idea of the parish taking its protection into its own hands.

“This is the kind of response we would like to see by other parishes, the state, and even other agencies," Troy Constance, who manages coastal restoration programs in Louisiana for the Army Corps, is quoted as saying in the article. "The idea of taking the initiative to move forward on something like this is highly supported by us.”

The plan is awaiting federal permits, the article stated.