The New River is a 24.0-mile-long (38.6 km)[1] waterway located in Louisiana in Ascension Parish. Its source is near the Mississippi River in Geismar where the two rivers were once connected. Before the levees were built to contain the Mississippi River, the New River was a distributary and a much larger river than it is today. Lack of river current has caused sediment to reduce both its depth and width.
New River meandered from Geismar passing through the city of Gonzales and the communities of St. Amant and Acy on its way to its mouth at the Blind River. During the early part of the twentieth century a 5-mile (8 km) canal, called the New River Canal, was constructed to the Petite Amite River, thereby cutting off the longer path to the Blind River. The cut off portion is now called the Old New River. The New River is a major drainage artery for east Ascension Parish, and it is part of the Lake Maurepas drainage basin.