Environmental writerMarc Reisner said the plan was one of "brutal magnificence" and "unprecedented destructiveness." 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. I find it interesting that households have to watch how much water theyare usingfor washing clothes, wateringlawns, washing cars,etc. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, prodded by members of Congressfrom western states, studied the massive proposal. He said wastewater reuse by area agencies has already swelled from 0.20% in the 1980sto 12% of regional water supply. 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. Could a water pipeline from the Mississippi River to Arizona be a real solution? Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. Then take it out of the southern tip of the aquifer in Southern Colorado. Who is going to come to the desert and use it? 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.. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. The water will drain into the headwaters of the Colorado river. 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. 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. Here are some facts to put perspective to severalof the opinions already expressed here: An aqueduct running from thelower Mississippi to the Colorado River (via the San Juan River tributary, at Farmington, New Mexico), with the same capacity as the California Aqueduct, would roughly double the flow of thelatter while taking merely 1-3% of the formers flow. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. An in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet to Larsons knowledge. What if our droughts get worse? Siphon off a big portion, and youd be swapping oneecological catastrophe for another, said Audubons Johnson. Politics are an even bigger obstacle to making multi-state pipelines a reality. But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. 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. 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. Experts say theres a proverbial snowballs chance in August of most of theseschemes being implemented. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. 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 . Nonetheless, Siefkes trans-basin pipeline proposal went viral, receiving nearly half a million views. 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. PROVISIONAL DATA SUBJECT TO REVISION. Hydrologic Unit Code 07110009. 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. The memorial also suggests that the pipeline could be used as stormwater infrastructure to prevent regular flooding along the . 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 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. They also concluded environmental and permitting reviews would take decades. Asked what might be the requirements and constraints of a pipeline from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Gene Pawliksaid, Since (the Army Corps) has not done a formal study related to the use of pipelines to move water between watersheds, we cannot speculate on the details or cost of such projects.. Moreover, we need water in our dams for. Tina Peters convicted of government obstruction charge, acquitted of obstructing a police officer, (720) 263-2338 Call, text, Signal or WhatsApp, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Even if the sticker price werent so prohibitive, there are other obstacles. Here's How. Anyone who thinks we can drain the aquifer and survive is grossly misinformed. 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. Releasing more water downstream would come at the expense of upstream users . You tellgolf courses how much water they can use, but one of thelargest wave basins in the world is acceptable? Certainly not the surrounding communities. Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. Politics are an even bigger obstacle for making multi-state pipelines a reality. Twitter, Follow us on No. 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. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations, bans large waterexportsoutside of the area. 10/4/2021. Any water diversion from the Mississippi to Arizona must be pumped about 6,000 feet up, over the Rockies. 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. Butbig water infrastructure projects aren't just of interest to the general public. This aerial photo of Davenport, Iowa, shows Mississippi River floodwaters in May 2019. States wish they wouldnt. 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. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but require decades of construction and billions of dollars. Take for instance the so-called Water Horse pipeline, a pet project of a Colorado investor and entrepreneur named Aaron Million. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure dont need all that water. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. Opinion: California gave up on mandating COVID vaccines for schoolchildren. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. Last updated on: February 10, 2023, 10:54h. Pipelines usually consist of sections of pipe made of . Each year . The water pipelines from the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa connecting to the headwaters of the Colorado River at the Rocky Mountain National Park. To the editor: While theres no question that the receding waters of Lake Mead are having a detrimental effect on recreation and tourism, the real looming catastrophe is that if the water level of the nations largest reservoir continues to fall and hits a certain level, the hydroeclectic power plant at Hoover Dam will have to shut down. The pipeline will end in the Rocky Mountain National park. Arizonas main active management areas are in Maricopa, Pinal, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties, leaving much of rural Arizona water use unregulated. 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 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. after the growth in California . 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. Take that, Lake Mead. 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. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. "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 . 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. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants,. "To my mind, the overriding fatal flaw for large import schemes is the time required to become operational. Developed in 1964 by engineer Ralph Parsons and his Pasadena-basedParsons Corporation,the plan would provide 75million acre-feet of water to arid areas inCanada, the United States and Mexico. This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. Experts say those will require sacrifices but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require. But interest spans deeper than that. ", Westford of Southern California's Metropolitan Water District agreed. Stop letting excess water flow out to sea. A pipeline taking water from the Missouri River west makes perfect sense, if you don't care about money, energy, or the environment. But if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly. The state also set aside funds in 2018 to study possible imports from the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers, but to date, the study hasnt been done, he said. "I don't think that drought, especially in the era of climate change, is something we can engineer our way out of.". . Heres how that affects Indigenous water rights, Salton Sea public health disaster gets a $250 million shot in the arm. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com 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. 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. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? Gavin Newsom reaffirming his support for the ambitious proposal. 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. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Weve had a few blizzards along the way, and some gun battles, but it is what it is.. 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. These canals and pipelines are . At comment sessions on Colorado's plan, he said, long-distance pipelines wereconstantly suggested by the public. We've had relatively rich resources for so long,we've never really had to deal withthis before, andwe don't want to change.". LAS VEGAS -- Lake Mead has nearly set a new record when its water level measured at 1081.10 feet, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. Do they thank us for using our water? The Mississippi used to flow through a delta full of bayous, shifting sad bars, And islets. 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. 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. Let's be really clear here. 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. Every day, we hear about water conservation, restrictions. Why not begin a grand national infrastructure project of building a water pipeline from those flooded states to the Southwest? But there are tons of things that can be done but arent ever done.. But water expertssaid it would likely take at least 30 years to clear legal hurdles to such a plan. But there are tons of things that can be done but arent ever done.. Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isnt working for snowed-in mountain towns, Letters to the Editor: Ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene? 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 . We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. "People are spoiled in the United States. You could do it.". It dawned on Million that Colorado had unclaimed rights to water from the Green, since the river was part of the Colorado River system, and he devised a plan to build a pipeline that would pump water around the Rockies to the city of Fort Collins, where he lives. Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. What states in the Southwest have failed to do is curtail growth and agriculture that is, of course, water-driven. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. That project, which also faces heavy headwinds from environmentalists, wouldcost an estimated $12 billion. Arizona's legislature allocated$1 billion in its last session for water augmentation projectslikea possible desalination plant, and state officials are in discussions with Mexican officials about the idea, saidBuschatzke. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. 00:00 00:00 An unknown error. Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA Today'sClimate Point newsletter. Grab hydrogen and oxygen from the air and make artificialrain. Facebook, Follow us on Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. The ongoing drought in California has hit its fourth year. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. Pipe water from the plentiful Great Lakes to deserted towns in the West like Phoenix and Las Vegas. The hypothetical Mississippi River pipeline, which gained new life last year amid devastating drought conditions, is a case in point. By the way, none of this includes the incredible carbon footprints about to be stomped on the environment. "Arizona really, really wants oceanfront," she chuckled. One benefit would be flood control for the Eastern USA . Physically, some could be achieved. Such major infrastructure is an absolute necessity, said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, who said he represents the governor on all things Colorado River.. . Ive cowboyed enough in my life to know that you just got to stick to the trail, he said. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. Still, its physically possible. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. John Kaufman, the man who proposed the Missouri River pipeline, wants to see the artificial boundaries expand. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. (Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis, July 11). and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . Yes, it would be hugely expensive. 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. 2023 www.desertsun.com. Runa giant hose from the Columbia River along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to refill Diamond Valley Reservoir. 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. The delta was tricky for barge traffic and shipping to navigate. All rights reserved. For instance, a Kansas groundwater management agency received a permit last year to truck 6,000 gallons of Missouri River water into Kansas and Colorado in hopes of recharging an aquifer. Not mentioned was the great grand-daddy of all schemes for re-allocating water, known as the North American Water and Power Authority Plan. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. "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?" In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. 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. 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. The Associated Press Climate team contributed images and page design. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. 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. But interest spans deeper than that. WATER WILL SOON be flowing from Lake Superior to the parched American Southwest. 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. 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. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Parsons said theplanwould replenishthe upper Missouri and Mississippi Rivers during dry spells, increase hydropower along the Columbia Riverand stabilize the Great Lakes. More by The Associated Press, Got a story tip? 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. 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 . Last time I heard, we are still the United States of America.". USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. Proponents of these projects argue that they could stabilize western cities for decades to come, connecting populations with unclaimed water rights. 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. Gavin Newsom if he's. When that happens, it wont be just tourists and recreational boaters who will suffer. Absolutely. 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? But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will. 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. All rights reserved. The California water wars of the early twentieth century are summed up in a famous line from the 1974 film Chinatown: Either you bring the water to L.A., or you bring L.A. to the water. Nearly a hundred years have elapsed since the events the film dramatizes, but much of the West still approaches water the same way. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients and invasive species. 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. It boggles the mind. Infrastructure is one of the few ways well turn things around to assure that theres some supply.. . Arizona, for instance, has invested millions of dollars in wastewater recycling while other communities have paid to fix leaky pipes, making their water delivery systems more efficient. Yes. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST Would itbe expensive? 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. Pat Mulroy, head of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, pitched a bold idea at a US Chamber of Commerce event last week: divert excess Mississippi River water to the west to irrigate crops to reduce pressure on the stressed Colorado River. On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council agreed on a proposal to treat water and deliver it to the community for three years. 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. 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 pipeline would provide the Colorado River basin with 600,000 acre-feet of water annually, which could serve roughly a million single-family homes. Historian Ted Steinberg said itsummed up "the sheer arrogance and imperial ambitions of the modern hydraulic West.". 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. 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. 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. 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. The Arizona Legislature wants the federal government to study the feasibility of constructing a pipeline . 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. Title: USGS Surface-Water Daily Data for the Nation URL: https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv? Steps are being taken to address water issues in Buckeye. It is time to think outside the box of rain. But pipelines and other big ideaswill always attract interest, hydrology experts said, because they falsely promise an innovative, easy way out. The state is expected to lose 10% of its water over the next two decades, reports the . YouTube star and Democratic political novice Kevin Paffrath proposed the Mississippi River pipeline last week during a debate among candidates seeking to replace Gov. Here are some facts to put perspective to several of the. Facebook, Follow us on She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com or @janetwilson66 on Twitter. 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. 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. 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. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. The two reasons: 1) the process of moving water that far, and that high, wouldn't make economic sense; 2) Great Lakes water is locked down politically. Arizona and Nevada residents must curb their use of water from the Colorado River, and California could be next. Just pump water a few miles from the Mississippi near Des Moines into the Ogallala aquifer. But the loss of so much water from the. Letter writers have asked why a water pipeline is not constructed from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River. 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. 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. 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.
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