water pipeline from mississippi river to california

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. "I don't think that drought, especially in the era of climate change, is something we can engineer our way out of.". 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. Reader support helps sustain our work. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. The resulting fresh water would bepiped northto the thirsty state. 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. 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. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. Los Angeles-area water districts have implemented much of what Famiglietti mentioned. "Arizona really, really wants oceanfront," she chuckled. Makes me wonder how this got this far, whose interests are being served and who's benefiting. Letter writers have asked why a water pipeline is not constructed from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River. Water thieves abound in dry California. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. And biologists andenvironmental attorneys saidNew Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water. The Colorado River is drying up. Water use has gone down 40% per capita in recent years, said Coffey. 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. continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. To be talking about pipe dreams, when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. YouTube. 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. Steps are being taken to address water issues in Buckeye. It's 2011 and the technology exists to build a series of water pipelines across the US, to channel flood water to holding tanks in other areas, and to supply water to drought stricken areas. 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. Pitt, who was a technical adviser on Reclamation's2012 report,decried ceaselesspipeline proposals. Famiglietti said as long as urban areas in the West don't persist in untrammeled growth, they have enough supply for the immediate future, with the ability to rip out lawns, capture stormwater runoff in local reservoirs, do municipal audits to fix leaks and other tools. He said wastewater reuse by area agencies has already swelled from 0.20% in the 1980sto 12% of regional water supply. And several approved diversions draw water from the Great Lakes. 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. Rescue the oceans from the pollution that flood waters pick up and dump into the ocean, creating dead zones. Siphon off a big portion, and youd be swapping oneecological catastrophe for another, said Audubons Johnson. Conservation alternatives are less palatable than big infrastructure projects, but theyre also more achievable. "This sounds outlandish, but we have a massive problem," Paffrath said. Its largestdam would be 1,700 feet tall, more than twice the height of Hoover Dam. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. The 2012 study didn't discount either option but. 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. But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. The delta was tricky for barge traffic and shipping to navigate. Experts say theres a proverbial snowballs chance in August of most of theseschemes being implemented. An acre-foot is enough water to serve about two households for a year, so it could supply water to 150 million customers. Flooding along the Mississippi River basin appears to have become more frequent in recent years, as has the [] But Westford and her colleague Brad Coffey, water resources manager,said desalination is needed in the Golden State. Theyre all such hypocrites. "I started withtoilets, I was the toilet queen of L.A.," said Westford. By George Skelton Capitol Journal Columnist Aug. 30, 2021 5 AM PT SACRAMENTO The award for dumbest idea of the recall election goes to the rookie Democrat who proposed building a water. We've had relatively rich resources for so long,we've never really had to deal withthis before, andwe don't want to change.". "Nebraska wants to build a canal to pull water from the SouthPlatte River in Colorado, and downstream, Colorado wants to take water from the Missouri River and pull it back across Nebraska. 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. John Neely ofPalm Desert responded: "All of these river cities who refuse to give us their water can stop snowbirding to the desert to use our water. 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. 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. 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. And contrary to Siefkes' claims, experts said, the silty river flows provide sediment critical to shore up the rapidly disappearing Louisiana coast andbarrier islands chewed to bits by hurricanes and sea rise. All rights reserved. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. 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?" Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. The Associated Press Climate team contributed images and page design. 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. Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. What states in the Southwest have failed to do is curtail growth and agriculture that is, of course, water-driven. 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. You couldbuild a pipeline from the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers. These realities havent stopped the Wests would-be water barons from dreaming. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. 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. If you dont have enough of it, go find more. Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. 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. Coffey said the project isn't really a pipeline, but more "a bypass for an aging 60-year-old"system. 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. 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. 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.. Those will require sacrifices, no doubt but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require, experts said. That project, which also faces heavy headwinds from environmentalists, wouldcost an estimated $12 billion. Politics are an even bigger obstacle to making multi-state pipelines a reality. We want to have more sustainable infrastructure. Arizona is among six states, that released a letter and a proposed model for how much Colorado River water they could potentially cut to stave off a collapse. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. 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. 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. Latitude 3853'06", Longitude 9010'51" NAD27. Anyone who thinks we can drain the aquifer and survive is grossly misinformed. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isnt working for snowed-in mountain towns, Letters to the Editor: Ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene? 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. 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. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. The idea of drinking even heavily treated liquid wastemay seem unpalatable, but Westfordthinks people will adapt. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. The water will drain into the headwaters of the Colorado river. PROVISIONAL DATA SUBJECT TO REVISION. This latest version would curve up through the Wyoming flatlands and back down to Fort Collins, a distance of around 340 miles. The distance between Albuquerque, for example, and the Mississippi River perhaps the closest hypothetical starting point for such a pipeline is about 1,000 miles, crossing at least three. 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. On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council agreed on a proposal to treat water and deliver it to the community for three years. 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. But there are tons of things that can be done but arent ever done.. We need to protect our water supply, at allcosts, and forgo our financialgains. 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. 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. "People are spoiled in the United States. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com or @janetwilson66 on Twitter. She points to her earlyworkfor comparison. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. 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. 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 Western U.S. is experiencing its driest period in more than a thousand years, according to scientists from UCLA and Columbia University. An earlier version of this story misidentified for which agency Jennifer Pitt was a technical adviser. Butbig water infrastructure projects aren't just of interest to the general public. Stop letting excess water flow out to sea. In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. Opinion: How has American healthcare gone so wrong? But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. 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. 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 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. But the loss of so much water from the. Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. 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. Just pump water a few miles from the Mississippi near Des Moines into the Ogallala aquifer. A pipeline taking water from the Missouri River west makes perfect sense, if you don't care about money, energy, or the environment. Among its provisions, the law granted the states water infrastructure finance authority to investigate the feasibility of potential out-of-state water import agreements. Here in the scorching Coachella Valley, local governments have approved construction of four surf resorts for the very wealthy. Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA Today'sClimate Point newsletter. 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. No. For one, theres no longer enough unclaimed water to make most pipeline projects cost-effective. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesn't always have enough water to spare. Heproposed usingnuclear explosionsto excavate the system's trenches and underground water storage reservoirs. About 60 percent of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. Facebook, Follow us on In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. Grab hydrogen and oxygen from the air and make artificialrain. As a resident of Wisconsin, a state that borders the (Mississippi) river, let me say: This is never gonna happen, wrote Margaret Melville of Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Who is going to come to the desert and use it? California Gov. 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. Would itbe expensive? Senior citizens dont go to wave parks. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients, and invasive species. 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. 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. Do we have the political will? Why not begin a grand national infrastructure project of building a water pipeline from those flooded states to the Southwest? 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 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. But Denver officials have expressed skepticism,because Missouri or Mississippi water isof inferior quality to pure mountain water. 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. 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. We are already in a severe drought. Still, he admits the road hasnt always been easy, and that victory is far from guaranteed. Physically, some could be achieved. Last updated on: February 10, 2023, 10:54h. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. 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 . While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. The actual costs to build such a pipeline today would likely be orders of magnitude higher, thanks to inflation and inevitable construction snags. One method for simulating streamflow and base flow, random forest (RF) models, was developed from the data at gaged sites and, in turn, was . 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. The trooper inside suffered minor injuries. 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. 2023 www.desertsun.com. "Yes, a Superior-Green River pipeline seems unrealistic, even impossible at first glance," Huttner wrote for Minnesota Public Radio. When that happens, it wont be just tourists and recreational boaters who will suffer. To the editor: The states near the Gulf of Mexico are often flooded with too much water, while the Southwest is suffering a long-term drought. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. 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 . Why are they so hard to catch? Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. 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. 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. Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. 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.

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