Proponents of these projects argue that they could stabilize western cities for decades to come, connecting populations with unclaimed water rights. Its easy to understand why politicians want to throw their weight behind similar present-day projects, Fort told Grist, but projects of this size just arent practical anymore. The resulting fresh water would bepiped northto the thirsty state. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. My water, your water.
Colorado River crisis: Can water be piped from Mississippi, Missouri? Water Piped to Denver Could Ease Stress on River - The New York Times General Manager Henry Martinez also warned that cutting water to Imperial Valley farmers and nearby Yuma County, Arizona, could lead to a food crisis as well as a water crisis. Photos of snowfall around northern Arizona. And biologists andenvironmental attorneys saidNew Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water. We have to conserve water, butnota ridiculous wave parkthat willprobably go bankrupt? Facebook, Follow us on But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will. after the growth in California . Among its provisions, the law granted the states water infrastructure finance authority to investigate the feasibility of potential out-of-state water import agreements. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. If you dont have enough of it, go find more. Similar ideas have been suggested about Great Lakes water. If we had a big pipeline from Lake Sakakawea, we wouldn't just dump it into Lake Powell. 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.
USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients and invasive species. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. Drainage area 171,500 square miles . The mountains are green now but that could be harmful during wildfire season. The Great Lakes Compact, signed by President George W. Bush in 2008,bans large waterexportsoutside of the areawithout the approval of all eight states bordering them andinput fromOntario and Quebec. Mulroy was the keynote speaker at the convention, held at Mandalay Bay, in Las Vegas, which is one of several that comprises the Chamber of Commerce's . But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid Westhave beenfloated for decades.
Why does California want to build a $16 billion water pipeline? This summer, as seven states and Mexico push to meet a Tuesday deadline to agree on plans to shore up the Colorado River and itsshrivelingreservoirs, retired engineer Don Siefkes of San Leandro, California,wrote a letter to The Desert Sun with what he said was asolution to the West's water woes: build an aqueduct from the Old River Control Structure to Lake Powell, 1,489 miles west, to refill the Colorado River system with Mississippi River water. Donate today tohelp keep Grists site and newsletters free. The Nevada Legislature is considering a bill that, if passed, would require restaurants to only provide water upon customer request. Yes. Heres how that affects Indigenous water rights, Salton Sea public health disaster gets a $250 million shot in the arm. 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.
Leading environmental engineering firm to study alternative water Meanwhile, watershed states in the U.S., and even counties havetaken actionto preventsuch schemes. Don't bother sending notices on conservation; they willbe ignored. The pipeline would provide the Colorado River basin with 600,000 acre-feet of water annually, which could serve roughly a million single-family homes. 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. Infrastructure is one of the few ways well turn things around to assure that theres some supply.. 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 . Its possible that the situation gets so dire that there is an amount of money out there that could overcome all of these obstacles, Larson said. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. The largest eastern river, the Mississippi, has about 30 times the average annual flow of the Colorado, and the Columbia has close to 10 times. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com or @janetwilson66 on Twitter. For him, thatincludessetting aside at leastportions of the so-called "Law of the River," a complicated, century-old set of legal agreements that guarantees farmers in Southern California the largest share of water. Martinez, an engineer who oversaw the construction of pipelines in the Sierra Nevada for Southern California Edison, agrees a 1,500-mile pipeline from the Mississippicould physically be built. Experts say those will require sacrifices but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require. Still, its physically possible. She points to her earlyworkfor comparison. 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? What goes into the cat-and-mouse game of forecasting Colorados avalanche risks?
Water Pipeline of America - Colorado-Mississippi Pipeline - Zamboanga Experts say theres a proverbial snowballs chance in August of most of theseschemes being implemented. California Gov. 2023 www.desertsun.com. In 1982,efforts were made to revive the plan by a Parsons company engineer, and the Lyndon Larouche movement supported itas recently as 2010. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. It would carry about 50,000 acre-feet of water per year, much less than the original pipeline plan but still twice Fort Collins current annual usage. A multi-state pipeline could easily require decades before it delivers a drop of water," said Michael Cohen, senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. According to DPS, the driver of the semi-truck lost control of the truck on the icy I-40 freeway near Williams, striking a DPS patrol car parked by the side of the highway.
Why can't California build a pipeline for water from other states Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesnt always have enough water to spare. We have already introduced invasive species all over the continentzebra mussels, quagga mussels, grass carp, spiny water flea, lampreys, ru. Meanwhile, a rookie Democrat running for governor in Californias recall election last year proposed declaring a state of emergency in order to build a similar project. A recent edition of The Desert Sun had twoletters objectingto piping water from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River, and on to California. The Arizona Legislature wants the federal government to study the feasibility of constructing a pipeline . Heproposed usingnuclear explosionsto excavate the system's trenches and underground water storage reservoirs. But water expertssaid it would likely take at least 30 years to clear legal hurdles to such a plan.
Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or dream? 2023 www.desertsun.com. California Departmentof Water Resourcesspokeswoman Maggie Maciasin an email: In considering the feasibility of a multi-state water conveyance infrastructure, the extraordinary costs that would be involved in planning, designing, permitting, constructing, and then maintaining and operating such a vast system of infrastructure would be significant obstacles when compared to the water supply benefits and flood water reduction benefits that it would provide. He said hes open to one but doesnt think its necessary. Environmental writerMarc Reisner said the plan was one of "brutal magnificence" and "unprecedented destructiveness." All three officials said the construction of a45-mile Delta Water Project tunnel to keep supply flowing from the middle of the state to thirsty cities in the south isvital. The diverted flow would require massive water tunnels, since a flow of 250,000. The 2012 study didn't discount either option but. The elephant in the room, according to Fort, is agriculture, which accounts for more than 80 percent of water withdrawals from the Colorado River. Thats not to mention the housing development again, for the very wealthy with its own lagoon.
The Abandoned Plan That Could Have Saved America From Drought The bigger obstacles are fiscal, legal, environmentaland most of all, political. My state, your state. Latitude 3853'06", Longitude 9010'51" NAD27. Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. The massive river, with tributaries from Montanato Ohio, is a national artery for shipping goodsout to sea.
Simulation of monthly mean and monthly base flow of streamflow using 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.
Is sending Mississippi water to West feasible? Experts weigh in Amid a major drought in the Western U.S., a proposed solution comes up repeatedly: large-scale river diversions, including pumping Mississippi River water to parched states. "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 . Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. Why it's a longshot: First, to get across the Continental Divide and into the Colorado River, you'd need an uphill pipeline about 1,000 miles long, which is longer than any other drinking water .
Drought Revives Mississippi River Pipe Dreams - The Waterways Journal By Brittney J. Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette. And, here in the land of the midnight 90-degree temperatures, we are building our very own ice hockey rink, because there is more than enough electricity to freeze that body of water and keep the arena cold enough to keep the ice from melting. The river's web, if some have their way, could become even larger. "I don't think that drought, especially in the era of climate change, is something we can engineer our way out of.".
Can the Mississippi River save Arizona? - wmicentral.com I think the feasibility study is likely to tell us what we already know, he said, which is that there are a lot less expensive, less complicated options that we can be investing in right now, like reducing water use. Physically, some could be achieved. PROVISIONAL DATA SUBJECT TO REVISION. Conservation alternatives are less palatable than big infrastructure projects, but theyre also more achievable. But there are tons of things that can be done but arent ever done.. All rights reserved. Newsom said the state must capture 100 million metric tons of carbon each year by 2045 about a quarter of what the state now emits annually. 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. If this gets any traction at all, people in the flyover states of the Missouri River basin probably will scream, one water official told the New York Times when the project first received attention. YouTube, Follow us on Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill.
Is Getting Great Lakes Water To The Southwest Just A Pipedream Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. 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. Who is going to come to the desert and use it? Yes, it would be hugely expensive. But if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly. 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. But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. The state is expected to lose 10% of its water over the next two decades, reports the . Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isnt working for snowed-in mountain towns, Letters to the Editor: Ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene? At one point, activists who opposed the project erected three large billboards warning about the high cost and potential consequences, such as the possibility that drawing down the Green River could harm the rivers fish populations. Moreover, we need water in our dams for.
Can Water Megaprojects Save The US Desert West? (Part 2) Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesnt always have enough water to spare.
Pipeline debate at center of California carbon capture plans A pipeline to the Mississippi River Perhaps the biggest achievement Paffrath said he would accomplish if elected governor would be to solve California's water crisis by building a. 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, a professor of water law at Arizona State University. 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 project would have to secure dozens of state and federal permits and clear an enormous federal environmental review; moving the water would also require the construction of several hundred megawatts of power generation. ", But desert defenders pushed back. Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. So moving water that far away to supplement the ColoradoRiver, I don't think is viable. Dothey pay extra for using our water? A Kansas groundwater management agency, for instance, received a permit last year to truck 6,000 gallons of Missouri River water into Kansas and Colorado in hopes of recharging an aquifer.
Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or pipe dream? In southeastern California,officials at the Imperial Irrigation District, which is entitled toby far the largest share of Colorado River water, say any move to strip theirrights would result in legal challenges that could last years. 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. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesn't always have enough water to spare.