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Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. At comment sessions on Colorado's plan, he said, long-distance pipelines wereconstantly suggested by the public. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. Do they thank us for using our water? Snowpacks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains have swelled to more than 200 percent of their normal size, and snowfall across the rest of the Colorado River Basin is trending above average, too. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. 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. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. All rights reserved. So moving water that far away to supplement the ColoradoRiver, I don't think is viable. Still, its physically possible. The mountains are green now but that could be harmful during wildfire season. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. 00:00 00:00 An unknown error. "I don't think that drought, especially in the era of climate change, is something we can engineer our way out of.". That project, which also faces heavy headwinds from environmentalists, wouldcost an estimated $12 billion. YouTube. Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream But Westford and her colleague Brad Coffey, water resources manager,said desalination is needed in the Golden State. 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. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? What's the solution to West's water crisis? Desperate ideas explained 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. Facebook, Follow us on The snowbirds commonly stay here for at least six months. 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. Its one of dozens of letters the paperhas received proposing or vehemently opposing schemes to fix the crashing Colorado River system, which provides water to nearly 40 million people and farms in seven western states. Tribes in the Colorado River Basin are fighting for their water. But pipelines and other big ideaswill always attract interest, hydrology experts said, because they falsely promise an innovative, easy way out. By the way, none of this includes the incredible carbon footprints about to be stomped on the environment. 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. A 45-mile, $16 billion tunnel that would mark California's largest water project in nearly 50 years took a step closer to reality this week, with Gov. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. 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. and planned for completion in 2050, it willdivert 44.8 billion cubic metersof water annually to major cities and agricultural and industrial centers in the parchednorth. Water is the new oil: Piping Lake Superior water West? Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. Million sued, and he says he expects a ruling this year. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST . Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesnt always have enough water to spare. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. This story is a product of theMississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an editorially independent reporting network based at the University ofMissouri School of Journalismin partnership withReport For Americaand theSociety of Environmental Journalists, funded by the Walton Family Foundation. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. 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. It's the lowest level since the lake was filled in the. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com or @janetwilson66 on Twitter. 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. 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. 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 Legislature wants the federal government to study the feasibility of constructing a pipeline . Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients and invasive species. We have already introduced invasive species all over the continentzebra mussels, quagga mussels, grass carp, spiny water flea, lampreys, ru. For as long as this idea has been proposed. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. Anyone who thinks we can drain the aquifer and survive is grossly misinformed. But interest spans deeper than that. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. Clouds of birds hundreds of species live in or travel through Louisianas rich Atchafalaya forests each year, said National Audubon Society Delta Conservation Director Erik Johnson. Its largestdam would be 1,700 feet tall, more than twice the height of Hoover Dam. Follow us on Take that, Lake Mead. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. 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 . Drought looms over midterm elections in the arid West, From lab to market, bio-based products are gaining momentum, The hazards of gas stoves were flagged by the industry and hidden 50 years ago, How Alaskas coastal communities are racing against erosion, Construction begins on controversial lithium mine in Nevada. 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. Donate today tohelp keep Grists site and newsletters free. One benefit would be flood control for the Eastern USA . Viaderos team estimated that the sale of the water needed to fill the Colorado Rivers Lake Powell and Lake Mead the largest reservoirs in the country would cost more than $134 billion at a penny a gallon. Can A Pipeline Really Bring Drinking Water From Mississippi To The West? 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. Million told Grist that hes secured partial funding for the project from multiple banks and the infrastructure company MasTec, but it remains unclear how much he would have to charge to make the project profitable. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . 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? Heres how that affects Indigenous water rights, Salton Sea public health disaster gets a $250 million shot in the arm. 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?" "My son will never know what a six-gallon toilet looks like," she said. The idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. "Mexico has said it didn't although there has been a recent change ingovernment.". Reader support helps sustain our work. Millions in the Southwest will literally be left in the dark and blistering heat when theres no longer enough water behind the dam to power the giant electricity-producing turbines. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. The driver of the truck was not injured. Stop letting excess water flow out to sea. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. Do we have the political will? Pipeline debate at center of California carbon capture plans 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. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. Arizonas main active management areas are in Maricopa, Pinal, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties, leaving much of rural Arizona water use unregulated. But interest spans deeper than that. Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure dont need all that water. Formal large-scale water importation proposals have existed in the United States since at least the 1960s, when an American company devised the North American Water and Power Alliance to redistribute Alaskan water across the continent using reservoirs and canals. 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. Nevertheless, Million hasnt given up, and hes currently working to secure permitting for the fourth iteration of the project. Shipping Snow: Could Eastern Water Ease Western Drought? Is pumping Mississippi River water west a solution or pipe dream? Yes. Is sending Mississippi water to West feasible? Experts weigh in The Abandoned Plan That Could Have Saved America From Drought USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. Pipelines usually consist of sections of pipe made of . You should worry, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, Elliott: Kings use their heads over hearts in trading Jonathan Quick, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids. 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. Ive cowboyed enough in my life to know that you just got to stick to the trail, he said. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where it's used for coastal restoration. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. 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. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. 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. 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. Safety concerns increased in 2020 after a pipeline in Mississippi ruptured in a landslide, releasing a heavier-than-air plume of carbon dioxide that displaced oxygen near the ground. Nonetheless, Siefkes trans-basin pipeline proposal went viral, receiving nearly half a million views. 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. "I started withtoilets, I was the toilet queen of L.A.," said Westford. Historian Ted Steinberg said itsummed up "the sheer arrogance and imperial ambitions of the modern hydraulic West.". Stories of similar projects often share the same ending, from proposals in Iowa and Minnesota to those between Canada and the United States. ", Westford of Southern California's Metropolitan Water District agreed. Some plans call for a connection to. 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. 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 agency is moving forward with smallerprojects across the state to reduce seismic and hydrologic risks, like eliminating leaks or seepage, including at four existing dams and related spillways in Riverside and Los Angeles counties. The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. Buying land to secure water rights would cost a chunk of cash, too, which leads to an even larger obstacle for such proposals: the legal and political hoops. A man from Minnesota wrote to the Palm Springs Desert Sun earlier this month and expressed similar sentiments, warning, If California comes for Midwest water, we have plenty of dynamite.. Can you solve drought by piping water across the country? - New York Times Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. The water, more than 44 million gallons a day, would come from 115 wells drilled between 1,000 and 5,000 feet deep in Beryl-Enterprise, a basin where the state has restricted use of shallow groundwater due to over-extraction. 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. Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 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. The 800-mile system of pipelines, ditches and reservoirs would cost an estimated $23 billion and could provide 1 million acre-feet of water a year to Colorado. The other alternatives have political costs, and they have costs that are maybe more likely to be borne locally, including by farmers and other large water users, she said. 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? Sharing Mississippi water with California would help feed America - Yahoo! In the 20 years since he first had the idea, Million has suffered a string of regulatory and legal defeats at the hands of state and federal agencies, becoming a kind of bogeyman for conservationists in the process. "I think that societally, we want to be more flexible. Those will require sacrifices, no doubt but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require, experts said. But in the face of continuing, ever-worsening drought and ongoing growth of the cities of the desert Southwest, is there a better idea out there? A Mississippi pipeline to Lake Powell would need to cut across four states, he and Johnson said, including hundreds of miles of wetlands in Louisiana and west Texas. Since about 1983, Lake Mead has dropped in volume from full capacity at. 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. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. Drought-Stricken West Looks to Mississippi River to Solve Water Woes As part of our commitment to sustainability, in 2021 Grist moved its office headquarters to the Bullitt Center in Seattles vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood. A retired engineer suggested a rather outlandish-in-scope but logical-in-approach solution to the seemingly growing floods in the central U.S. and the water woes of the West Coast - build a nearly 1,500-mile aqueduct to connect the two. 10/4/2021. If we had a big pipeline from Lake Sakakawea, we wouldn't just dump it into Lake Powell. Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California. Why hasn't the U.S. built an aqueduct or pipeline to divert - Quora States wish they wouldnt. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. Palm Springs newspaper readers' drought fix: Siphon Mississippi That's a big pipe: Retired engineer suggests aqueduct from Mississippi If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. 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. Each year worsens our receipt of rain and snow. Fueled by Google and other search engines, more than 3.2 millionpeople have read the letters, an unprecedented number for the regional publication's opinion content. The Colorado River's 1922 compact allocated about 23% of the Upper Basin's water to Utah, and the state uses about 72% of that water. Water use has gone down 40% per capita in recent years, said Coffey. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or pipe dream? "Should we move the water to where the food is grown, or is it maybe time to think about moving the food production to the water?" Water thieves abound in dry California. This One thousand mile long pipeline could move water from the Eastern USA (Great Lakes, Ohio River, Missouri River, and Mississippi River) to the Colorado River via the Mississippi River. Water Pipeline of America - Colorado-Mississippi Pipeline - Zamboanga Water pipeline not feasible - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper 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. But interest spans deeper than that. Viaderos team estimated that the sale of the water needed to fill the Colorado Rivers Lake Powell and Lake Mead the largest reservoirs in the country would cost more than $134 billion at a penny a gallon. Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. 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.