Farming came ahead of conservation, however, and the birds lost the battle over the wetlands, as often happened in western Norway. In 1987 the water level sank 1.4 metres. Floods were reduced, which was the objective. But far from all of the 500,000 km², which were intended recaptured for farming, were shown to be suitable for agriculture. The 1.8 millions of crowns that had been spent on the project, mostly government funds, failed to give the expected return.
Ten years after the water level was lowered, new government funds were laid on the table, this time to repair the damage caused by the first subsidy. New channels were dug, and new islands were built up in order to recreate some of the delta landscape. It could not possibly be just as before, but good enough so that several of the lost bird species returned to the Myrkdal delta.