VICSKBURG, Miss. -- This week’s rain is giving a much needed boost to the critically low Mississippi River, keeping it open for shipping for now.  But one Vicksburg area business owner is concerned about the future.

Austin Golding of Golding River Barge said the problem remains on the upper Mississippi River around Thebes, Illinois.  “And why that has an impact for Mississippians is a lot of what we actually consume come down from St. Louis.”

He and other barge owners are asking the federal government to insure them that they will have a working 9-foot channel there through the spring.  “The reason that’s important is that if you are moving products from Houston, or Corpus Christi or New Orleans, you factor that into your transit time,” he explained.  “And nobody is going to commit to moving products north or south if there are thousands of dollars in transit and transportation cost that are kind of at a question mark.”

And that could translate into you paying more for some products.  Or even worse, not finding them in your area at all.