But there are tons of things that can be done but arent ever done.. It is time to think outside the box of rain. A federal report from a decade ago pegged an optimistic cost estimate for a similar pipeline at $14 billion and said the project would take 30 years to build; a Colorado rancher who championed the idea around the same time, meanwhile, estimated its costs at $23 billion. Arizona and Nevada residents must curb their use of water from the Colorado River, and California could be next. As recently as 2021, the Arizona state legislature urged Congress to fund a technological and feasibility study of a diversion dam and pipeline scheme to harvest floodwater from the Mississippi River to replenish the Colorado River. 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. Drop us a note at tips@coloradosun.com. Available data for this site Madison County, Illinois. The pipeline will end in the Rocky Mountain National park. The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. But if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly. 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. My state, your state. I find it interesting that households have to watch how much water theyare usingfor washing clothes, wateringlawns, washing cars,etc. An acre-foot is enough water to serve about two households for a year, so it could supply water to 150 million customers. Infrastructure is one of the few ways well turn things around to assure that theres some supply.. The project entails the construction of thousands of miles of pipelines and canals, 427 water treatment facilities, countless pumping facilities, and the displacement of 300,000 residents. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. He said wastewater reuse by area agencies has already swelled from 0.20% in the 1980sto 12% of regional water supply. It willtake liquid sewage, treat it, and either percolate it back into area groundwater, or, if California law is changed,pipe itto water tanks across the basin. Every day, we hear about water conservation, restrictions. 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. 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. Letter writers have asked why a water pipeline is not constructed from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. The basic idea is to take water from the Mississippi River, pump it a thousand miles west, and dump it into the overtaxed Colorado River, which provides water for millions of Arizona residents but has reached historically low levels as its reservoirs dry up. Drainage area 171,500 square miles . In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. Any water diversion from the Mississippi to Arizona must be pumped about 6,000 feet up, over the Rockies. Much of the sediment it was carrying was dropped in the slow moving water of the Delta. States wish they wouldnt. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, Whats Working: How a Denver nonprofit is expanding the benefits of work. . 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. 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. Here are some facts to put perspective to several of the. . Specifically, start with a line from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River at Lake Powell, where a seven-state compact divvies up the water. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. All it does is cause flooding and massive tax expenditures to repair and strengthen dikes, wrote Siefkes.New Orleans has a problem with that much water anyway, so lets divert 250,000 gallons/secondto Lake Powell, which currently has a shortage of 5.5 trillion gallons. 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. 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. "We're going to start to see these reservoirs, which nine of them are already filled from the rain water, so then you add on snow melt and we may have some problems with that as far as flooding . This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. [1] The delta was tricky for barge traffic and shipping to navigate. Runa giant hose from the Columbia River along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to refill Diamond Valley Reservoir. The concepts fell into a few large categories: pipe Mississippi or Missouri River water to the eastern side of the Rockies or to Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, bring icebergs in. The massive river, with tributaries from Montanato Ohio, is a national artery for shipping goodsout to sea. 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 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. Coffey said the project isn't really a pipeline, but more "a bypass for an aging 60-year-old"system. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. To be talking about pipe dreams, when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. after the growth in California . The river's web, if some have their way, could become even larger. Others said the costs of an Arizona-Mexico desalination plant would also likely prove infeasible. Each year worsens our receipt of rain and snow. Despite the recent defeat of a major plant in Huntington Beach, after the California Coastal Commission said it was too environmentally damaging, "ocean desalination can't be off the table," said Coffey. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. Local hurdles include endangered species protections, wetlands protections, drinking water supply considerations and interstate shipping protections. 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? On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council agreed on a proposal to treat water and deliver it to the community for three years. In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. We have to conserve water, butnota ridiculous wave parkthat willprobably go bankrupt? We need to protect our water supply, at allcosts, and forgo our financialgains. The Colorado Sun is a journalist-owned, award-winning news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state our community can better understand itself. Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA Today'sClimate Point newsletter. 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. In northwestern Iowa, a river has repeatedly been pumped dry by a rural water utility that sells at least a quarter of the water outside the state. Do we have the political will? The 2012 study didn't discount either option but. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. Yahoo, Reddit and ceaseless headlines about a 22-year megadrought and killer flash floods, not to mention dead bodies showing up on Lake Meads newly exposed shoreline, have galvanized reader interest this summer. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. 10/4/2021. The Mississippi used to flow through a delta full of bayous, shifting sad bars, And islets. Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California. But pipelines and other big ideaswill always attract interest, hydrology experts said, because they falsely promise an innovative, easy way out. But there are tons of things that can be done but arent ever done.. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where it's used for coastal restoration. But Westford and her colleague Brad Coffey, water resources manager,said desalination is needed in the Golden State. YouTube star and Democratic political novice Kevin Paffrath proposed the Mississippi River pipeline last week during a debate among candidates seeking to replace Gov. 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. Two hundred miles north of New Orleans, in the heart of swampy Cajun country, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1963 cut a rogue arm of the Mississippi River in half with giant levees to keep the main river intact and flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. Fort, the University of New Mexico professor, worries that the bigwigs who throw their energy behind large capital projects may be neglecting other, more practical options. Arizona lawmakers want to build a pipeline from the Mississippi River more than a thousand miles away, a Colorado rancher wants to pipe water 300 miles across the Rockies, and Utah wants to pump even more water out of the already-depleted Lake Powell. Engineers said the pipelineidea is technically feasible. "I don't think that drought, especially in the era of climate change, is something we can engineer our way out of.". continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. 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. It was the Bureau of Reclamation. Other legal constraints include the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Protection Act and variousstate environmental laws, said Brent Newman, senior policy director for the National Audubon Society's Delta state programs. 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. Inspired by Mao Zedong, who in 1952 observed, "The south has plenty of water and the north lacks it, so if possible why not borrow some?" 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. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST . "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. In it, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Idaho Attorney General Ral Labrador contend that a new interpretation of a Clean Water Act rule is too vague, oversteps the bounds of federal authority and puts the liberties of states and private property owners at risk. Politics are an even bigger obstacle for making multi-state pipelines a reality. Moreover, we need water in our dams for. Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. 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. 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. The price tag for construction would add to this hefty bill, along with the costs of powering the equipment needed to pump the water over the Western Continental Divide. Buying land to secure water rights would also cost a chunk of cash, which leads to an even larger obstacle for such proposals: the legal and political hoops. Famiglietti also said while oil companies are willing to spend millions because their product yields high profits per gallon, that's not the case with water, typically considered a public resource. Absolutely not," said Meena Westford, executive director of Colorado River resource policy for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. 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 . The Arizona state legislature allocated seed money toward a study of a thousand-mile pipeline that would do exactly this last year, and the states top water official says hes spoken to officials in Kansas about participating in the project. In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. And there are several approved diversions that draw water from the Great Lakes. Even at its cheapest, the project would cost about twice as much per acre-foot of water delivered than other solutions like water conservation and reuse. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com or @janetwilson66 on Twitter. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. But water expertssaid it would likely take at least 30 years to clear legal hurdles to such a plan. All rights reserved. The pipeline would help it tap another 86,000 acre-feet of . But interest spans deeper than that. 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. Moreover, we need water in our dams for hydroelectric power as well as for drinking and irrigation, so we would power the Hoover, Glen Canyon and Parker dams. We've had relatively rich resources for so long,we've never really had to deal withthis before, andwe don't want to change.". Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. YouTube. So what are the solutions to the arid West's dilemma, as climate change heats up and California's State Water Project, along with Lake Mead and Lake Powell, shrivels due to reduced snowmelt and rainfall? At comment sessions on Colorado's plan, he said, long-distance pipelines wereconstantly suggested by the public. This aerial photo of Davenport, Iowa, shows Mississippi River floodwaters in May 2019. If a portion of the farmers in the region were to change crops or fallow their fields, the freed-up water could sustain growing cities. Noting about 4.5 million gallons per second of Mississippi River flow past the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana, the letter writer explains diverting 250,000 gallons per second would. To be talking about pipe dreams when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. 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 . People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. But the loss of so much water from the. 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 . "The engineering is feasible. But interest spans deeper than that. Meanwhile, watershed states in the U.S., and even counties havetaken actionto preventsuch schemes. Arizona lawmakers want to build a pipeline from the Mississippi River more than a thousand miles away, a Colorado rancher wants to pipe water 300 miles across the Rockies, and Utah wants. Over the years, a proposed solution has come up again and again: large-scale river diversions, including pumping Mississippi River water to the parched west. Historian Ted Steinberg said itsummed up "the sheer arrogance and imperial ambitions of the modern hydraulic West.". Gavin Newsom reaffirming his support for the ambitious proposal. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. In 2012, the U.S. Department of the Interiors Bureau of Reclamation completed the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken within the Colorado River Basin at the time, which analyzed solutions to water supply issues including importing water from the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Heres why thats wise, Nicholas Goldberg: How I became a tool of Chinas giant anti-American propaganda machine, Opinion: Girls reporting sexual abuse shouldnt have to fear being prosecuted. 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. Improved simulations of streamflow and base flow for selected sites within and adjacent to the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain area are important for modeling groundwater flow because surface-water flows have a substantial effect on groundwater levels. Run a pipeline a few hundred miles to the San Juan River in Pagosa Springs CO which drains into Lake Powell and you are good to go. They includegawky pink roseate spoonbills, tiny bright yellow warblers, known as swamp candles because of their bright glow in the humid, green woods, and more. Were not looking for the last dollar out of this project, he told me. Then take it out of the southern tip of the aquifer in Southern Colorado. Each year . The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. 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. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. A Canadian entrepreneur's plan published in 1991 diverted water from eastern British Columbia to the Columbia River, then envisioned a 300-mile pipeline from the river through Oregon to a reservoir near Alturas, California. The idea of drinking even heavily treated liquid wastemay seem unpalatable, but Westfordthinks people will adapt. Opinion: California gave up on mandating COVID vaccines for schoolchildren. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations. 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. John Kaufman, the man who proposed the Missouri River pipeline, wants to see the artificial boundaries expand. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? The . "I started withtoilets, I was the toilet queen of L.A.," said Westford. 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 . These canals and pipelines are . The idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. Why are they so hard to catch? Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. Some plans call for a connection to. To the editor: With the threat of brownouts and over-stressed power grids, dwindling water resources in California and the call to reduce consumption by 15%, I want to point out we are not all in this together. Well, kind of, Letters to the Editor: Shasta County dumps Dominion voting machines at its own peril, Editorial: Bay Area making climate change history by phasing out sales of gas furnaces and water heaters, Column: Mike Lindell is helping a California county dump voting machines. Talk about a job-creating infrastructure project, which would rivalthe tremendous civilengineering feats our country used to be noted for. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. By Brittney J. Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette. 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. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. The ongoing drought in California has hit its fourth year. Instagram, Follow us on Today, any water pipeline could cost from $10 billion to $20 billion with another $30 billion in improvements just to get the water to thirsty people and farms. The memorial is seeking Mississippi River water as a solution to ongoing shortages on the Colorado River as water levels reach historic lows in the two largest reservoirs on the river, Lake Powell and Lake Mead. To the editor: I'd like to ask if the reader from Chatsworth calling for the construction of a water pipeline from the Mississippi River to Colorado River reservoirs has ever been to . Still, its physically possible. Each state along the Colorado River basin had the rights to a certain quantity of river water, divided among major users like farms and cities, and the projects were designed to help the states realize those abstract rights. Facebook, Follow us on The lawsuit, originally filed in southern Texas' federal courts Jan. 18, was amended to include Idaho on Monday. In northwestern Iowa, a river has repeatedly been pumped dry by a rural water utility that sells at least a quarter of the water outside the state. 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. Pipelines usually consist of sections of pipe made of . There are at least half a dozen major water pipeline projects under consideration throughout the region, ranging from ambitious to outlandish. In 2012, the U.S. Department of the Interiors Bureau of Reclamation completed the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken within the Colorado River Basin at the time, which analyzed solutions to water supply issues including importing water from the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Were doing everything we can to minimize impacts, maximize benefits, and this project has a lot of benevolence associated with it. In his vision of the Wests future, urban growth will necessitate more big infrastructure projects like his.
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