USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. Gavin Newsom reaffirming his support for the ambitious proposal. All rights reserved. Here's How. Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. One proposed solution to the Colorado River Basin's water scarcity crisis has come up again and again: large-scale river diversions, including pumping Mississippi River water to the parched West . Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California. Yes. Thats not to mention the housing development again, for the very wealthy with its own lagoon. The ongoing drought in California has hit its fourth year. It's the lowest level since the lake was filled in the. My state, your state. The massive river, with tributaries from Montanato Ohio, is a national artery for shipping goodsout to sea. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); A nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. Each year worsens our receipt of rain and snow. Major projects to restore the coast and save brown pelicans and other endangered species are now underway, and Mississippi sediment delivery is at the heart of them. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. Absolutely not," said Meena Westford, executive director of Colorado River resource policy for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. In 1964, a California engineering company proposed diverting flows from the Yukon and Mackenzie River watersheds, shared by Canada and the U.S., all the way to southern California and into Mexico. On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council agreed on a proposal to treat water and deliver it to the community for three years. YouTube. of Engineers has turned back official requests for more water from the Missouri River to alleviate shortages on the Mississippi. The most obvious problem with this proposal is its mind-boggling cost. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. Facebook, Follow us on The idea's been dismissed for as long as it's. Ultimately the rising environmental movement squelched it the project woulddestroyvast wildlife habitats in Canada and the American West,submergewild rivers in Idaho and Montana,and requirethe relocation of hundreds of thousands of people. As apractical matter, Famiglietti, a Universityof Saskatchewan hydrology professor who tracks water basins worldwide via NASA satellite data, saidMississippi River states also experiencedry spells, and the watershed, the fourth largest in the world, also ebbs and flows. A water pipeline like Millions would help, if he could wave a magic wand and build it, but Fort believes the present scramble over the Colorado River will likely make such projects impossible to realize. Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. The Colorado River is drying up. From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka): Hausler's idea is to bring water from the Mississippi just below its confluence with the Ohio River across Missouri and Kansas into Colorado. The idea is as old and dusty as the desert Southwest: Pipe abundant Great Lakes water to parched cities out West, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. Pipeline sizes vary from the 2-inch- (5-centimetre-) diameter lines used in oil-well gathering systems to lines 30 feet (9 metres) across in high-volume water and sewage networks. Instagram, Follow us on The Old River Control Structure, as it was dubbed, is also the linchpin of massive but delicate locks and pulsed flows that feed the largest bottomland hardwood forests and wetlands in the United States, outstripping thebetter-known Okefenokee Swamp that straddles Georgia and Florida. . To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. The sharing of water would greatly contribute to California being able to feed the nation. Parsons said theplanwould replenishthe upper Missouri and Mississippi Rivers during dry spells, increase hydropower along the Columbia Riverand stabilize the Great Lakes. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients, and invasive species. Arizona is among six states, that released a letter and a proposed model for how much Colorado River water they could potentially cut to stave off a collapse. As western states grew over the twentieth century, the federal government helped them build several massive water diversion projects that would hydrate their growing urban populations: The Central Arizona Project aqueduct brought water from the Colorado River to Phoenix, for instance, and the Big Thompson system piped water across the Colorado Rockies to Denver. Let's be really clear here. No, lets talk about her, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, 15 arrested across L.A. County in crackdown on fraudulent benefit cards, Calmes: Heres what we should do about Marjorie Taylor Greene, Column: Did the DOJ just say Donald Trump can be held accountable for Jan. 6? The idea of drinking even heavily treated liquid wastemay seem unpalatable, but Westfordthinks people will adapt. Hydrologic Unit Code 07110009. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com States wish they wouldnt. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Arizona and Nevada residents must curb their use of water from the Colorado River, and California could be next. Precedents set by other diversion attempts, like those that created the Great Lakes Compact, also cast doubt over the political viability of any large-scale Mississippi River diversion attempt, said Chloe Wardropper, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor researching environmental governance. The idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. The diverted flow would require massive water tunnels, since a flow of 250,000. These canals and pipelines are . and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . The water would be drained via a 36 inch pipe already installed four miles west of Sugarloaf Mountain outside Marquette. A drive up Interstate 5 shows how muchland has been fallowed due tolack of water. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. Its much easier to [propose] a shining pipeline from the Mississippi River that will never be built than it is to grapple with this really unpleasant truth.. It boggles the mind. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but would require decades of construction and billions of dollars. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), FILE - Dredge Jadwin, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging vessel, powers south down the Mississippi River Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022, past Commerce, Mo. Water use has gone down 40% per capita in recent years, said Coffey. An additional analysis emerged a decade later when Roger Viadero, an environmental scientist and engineer at Western Illinois University, and his graduate students assessed proposals suggested in last summers viral editorials. In their technical report, which hasnt been peer-reviewed, they calculated that a pipe for moving this scale of water would need to be 88 feet in diameter around twice the length of a semi trailer or a 100-foot-wide channel thats 61 feet deep. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. The Southern Delivery System in the nearby Arkansas River Basin pipes water from Pueblo County more than 60 miles north to Colorado Springs, Fountain and Security. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. While they didnt outright reject the concepts, the experts laid out multi-billion-dollar price tags, including ever-higher fuel and power costs to pump water up mountains or over other geographic obstacles. The list of projects that run on similarly magical thinking goes on: Utah wants to build a pipeline of its own from Lake Powell to the fast-growing city of St. George, but Lake Powell has almost no water left. I think it would be foolhardy to dismiss it as not feasible, said Richard Rood, professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. Its largestdam would be 1,700 feet tall, more than twice the height of Hoover Dam. My water, your water. To be talking about pipe dreams, when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. Most recently, the Arizona state legislature passed a measure in 2021 urging Congress to investigate pumping flood water from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River to bolster its flow. Savor that while your lawns are dying. Butbig water infrastructure projects aren't just of interest to the general public. A multi-state compact already prohibits any sale of water from the Great Lakes unless all bordering states agree to it, and its almost certain that Mississippi River states would pass laws restricting water diversions, or file lawsuits against western states, if the project went forward. So come on out for the plastic Marilyn on our dashboard, and stay for the stupendous waste of water, electricity and clean air. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. All that snow in Arizona is nice now but officials worry that it could create disastrous flooding and wildfire conditions. Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. As politicians across the West confront the consequences of the climate-fueled Millennium Drought, many of them are heeding the words of Chinatown and trying to bring in outside water through massive capital projects. Title: USGS Surface-Water Daily Data for the Nation URL: https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv? Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. Kaufman is the general manager of Leavenworth Water, which serves 50,000 people in a town that welcomed Lewis and Clark in 1804 during the duo's westward exploration. "Recently I have noticed several letters to the editor in your publication that promoted taking water from the Mississippi River or the Great Lakes and diverting it to California via pipeline or . The plan would divert water from the Missouri River which normally flows into the Mississippi River and out to the Gulf of Mexico through an enormous pipeline slicing some 600 miles (970 . Precedents set by other diversion attempts, like those that created the Great Lakes Compact, also cast doubt over the political viability of any large-scale Mississippi River diversion attempt, said Chloe Wardropper, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor researching environmental governance. The drought is so critical that this recent rainfall is a little like finding a $20 bill when youve lost your job and youre being evicted from your house, said Rhett Larson, an Arizona State University professor of water law. The state should do everything possible to push conservation, but thats not going to cure the issue, he told Grist. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. As a resident of Wisconsin, a state that borders the (Mississippi) river, let me say: This is never gonna happen, wrote Margaret Melville of Cedarburg, Wisconsin. It's 2011 and the technology exists to build a series of water pipelines across the US, to channel flood water to holding tanks in other areas, and to supply water to drought stricken areas. Pitt, who was a technical adviser on Reclamation's2012 report,decried ceaselesspipeline proposals. The Western U.S. is experiencing its driest period in more than a thousand years, according to scientists from UCLA and Columbia University. And there are several approved diversions that draw water from the Great Lakes. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations. Senior citizens dont go to wave parks. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. 2023 www.desertsun.com. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. What if our droughts get worse? Experts say theres a proverbial snowballs chance in August of most of theseschemes being implemented. "Sometimes there is a propensity in areas like Louisiana or the Southwest, where we've had such success in our engineering marvels, to engineer our way out of everything," Newman said. Who is going to come to the desert and use it? But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. Experts say those will require sacrifices but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require. Most recently, in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation produced a report laying out a potentially grim future for the Colorado River, and had experts evaluate 14 big ideas commonly touted as potential solutions. But there are tons of things that can be done but arent ever done.. We've had relatively rich resources for so long,we've never really had to deal withthis before, andwe don't want to change.". Additionally, building large infrastructure projects in general has become more difficult, in part thanks to reforms like the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires that detailed environmental impact statements be produced and evaluated for large new infrastructure projects. Another businessman in New Mexico has pushed plans to pump river water 150 miles to the city of Santa Fe, but that water would have to be pumped uphill. He said hes open to one but doesnt think its necessary. The California Aqueduct carries about 13,000 cubic feet per second through the Central Valley; the Colorado River atLees Ferry runs about 7,000 to 14,000 cfs; the Mississippi at Vicksburg varies from 400,000 to 1.2 million cfs. Don't bother sending notices on conservation; they willbe ignored. Wildfire, flooding concerns after massive snowfall in Arizona, Customers will have to ask for water at Nevada restaurants if bill passes, Snow causes semi truck to crash into Arizona DPS Trooper SUV near Williams, A showdown over Colorado River water is setting the stage for a high-stakes legal battle, In Arizona and other western states, pressure to count water lost to evaporation, While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, Arizona state legislature passed a measure in 2021, RELATED: Phoenix city officials celebrate final pipe installation in the Drought Pipeline Project, the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken within the Colorado River Basin. Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. Either way, most of these projects stand little chance of becoming reality theyre ideas from a bygone era, one that has more in common with the world of Chinatown than the parched west of the present. Every year, NAWAPA would deliver 158 million acre-feet of water to the US, Canada, and Mexico more than 10 times the annual flow of the Colorado River. These realities havent stopped the Wests would-be water barons from dreaming. Why not begin a grand national infrastructure project of building a water pipeline from those flooded states to the Southwest? The conceptsfell into a few large categories: pipe Mississippi or Missouri River water to the eastern sideof the Rockies or to Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, bring icebergs in bags, on container ships or via trucks to Southern California, pump water from the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest to California via a subterranean pipeline on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, or replenish the headwaters of the Green River, the main stem of the Colorado River, with water from tributaries. The state is expected to lose 10% of its water over the next two decades, reports the . But Denver officials have expressed skepticism,because Missouri or Mississippi water isof inferior quality to pure mountain water. Most recently, the Arizona state legislature passed a measure in 2021 urging Congress to investigate pumping flood water from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River to bolster its. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. And contrary to Siefkes' claims, experts said, the silty river flows provide sediment critical to shore up the rapidly disappearing Louisiana coast andbarrier islands chewed to bits by hurricanes and sea rise. He raised the possibility that policymakers will seek to build a 900-mile pipeline from Lake Superior to the Green River watershed in southwest Wyoming. . Certainly not the surrounding communities. For decades, key stewards of the river have ignored the massive water loss, instead allocating Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico their share of the river without subtracting whats evaporated.