The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Dothey pay extra for using our water? Plus, the federal report found the water would be of much lower quality than other western water sources. It is a minimum of 1,067 miles from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River if it could be built in a fairly straight line (St. Louis to Grand Junction, Colorado, based on the route of. 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. Hydrologic Unit Code 07110009. Here are 2 reasons why the drought in California won't open the door to Politics are an even bigger obstacle to making multi-state pipelines a reality. The Southern Delivery System in the nearby Arkansas River Basin pipes water from Pueblo County more than 60 miles north to Colorado Springs, Fountain and Security. In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. The trooper inside suffered minor injuries. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or dream? 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. The conceptsfell into a few large categories: pipe Mississippi or Missouri River water to the eastern sideof the Rockies or to Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, bring icebergs in bags, on container ships or via trucks to Southern California, pump water from the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest to California via a subterranean pipeline on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, or replenish the headwaters of the Green River, the main stem of the Colorado River, with water from tributaries. 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. What's the solution to West's water crisis? Desperate ideas explained Email: [email protected] It was the Bureau of Reclamation. 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. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. An in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet to Larsons knowledge. (Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis, July 11). Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. ", But desert defenders pushed back. Each year worsens our receipt of rain and snow. Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was filled 85 years ago. Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. WATER WILL SOON be flowing from Lake Superior to the parched American Southwest. 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 . 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.. 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. Additionally, building large infrastructure projects in general has become more difficult, in part thanks to reforms like the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires that detailed environmental impact statements be produced and evaluated for large new infrastructure projects. Why hasn't the U.S. built an aqueduct or pipeline to divert - Quora Historian Ted Steinberg said itsummed up "the sheer arrogance and imperial ambitions of the modern hydraulic West.". Can Water Megaprojects Save The US Desert West? (Part 2) States have [historically] been very successful in getting the federal government to pay for wasteful, unsustainable, large water projects, said Denise Fort, a professor emerita at the University of New Mexico who has studied water infrastructure. 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. Water Pipeline: From Mississippi River To The West? - YouTube Drought-Stricken West Looks to Mississippi River to Solve Water Woes All three officials said the construction of a45-mile Delta Water Project tunnel to keep supply flowing from the middle of the state to thirsty cities in the south isvital. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. 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. Gavin Newsom if he's. So come on out for the plastic Marilyn on our dashboard, and stay for the stupendous waste of water, electricity and clean air. 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. 10/4/2021. 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. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. That's a big pipe: Retired engineer suggests aqueduct from Mississippi A pipeline taking water from the Missouri River west makes perfect sense, if you don't care about money, energy, or the environment. Many sawSiefkes' idea and others like it as sheer theft by a region that needs to fix its own woes. 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. "This sounds outlandish, but we have a massive problem," Paffrath said. But there are tons of things that can be done but arent ever done.. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. after the growth in California . 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. 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. Flooding along the Mississippi River basin appears to have become more frequent in recent years, as has the [] 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. "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. 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. Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure dont need all that water. And biologists andenvironmental attorneys saidNew Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water. Design and build by Upstatement. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Can A Pipeline Really Bring Drinking Water From Mississippi To The West? The memorial also suggests that the pipeline could be used as stormwater infrastructure to prevent regular flooding along the . Runa giant hose from the Columbia River along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to refill Diamond Valley Reservoir. 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.. Among its provisions, the law granted the states water infrastructure finance authority to investigate the feasibility of potential out-of-state water import agreements. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. The sharing of water would greatly contribute to California being able to feed the nation. But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will. Pipeline from the Mississippi River to Colorado? - Coyote Gulch In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . Kaufman is the general manager of Leavenworth Water, which serves 50,000 people in a town that welcomed Lewis and Clark in 1804 during the duo's westward exploration. Too wacky? Moving water from flood to drought - Phys.org Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. 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. YouTube, Follow us on Drought Revives Mississippi River Pipe Dreams - The Waterways Journal 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. But interest spans deeper than that. 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. 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. More by The Associated Press, Got a story tip? But interest spans deeper than that. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. "People are spoiled in the United States. Arizona needs water. But a Mississippi pipeline is a pipe dream The water will drain into the headwaters of the Colorado river. 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. We need to protect our water supply, at allcosts, and forgo our financialgains. 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. 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. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. 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. 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. In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. Yes, it would be hugely expensive. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. All rights reserved. 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. Palm Springs newspaper readers' drought fix: Siphon Mississippi 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?
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