Infrastructure is one of the few ways well turn things around to assure that theres some supply.. What states in the Southwest have failed to do is curtail growth and agriculture that is, of course, water-driven. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. 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. 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 . Even if the sticker price werent so prohibitive, there are other obstacles. The Arizona Legislature wants the federal government to study the feasibility of constructing a pipeline . 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. Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. 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. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This story is part of the Grist seriesParched, an in-depth look at how climate change-fueled drought is reshaping communities, economies, and ecosystems. The mountains are green now but that could be harmful during wildfire season. The most obvious problem with this proposal is its mind-boggling cost. 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. 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. 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. An earlier version of this story misidentified for which agency Jennifer Pitt was a technical adviser. You tellgolf courses how much water they can use, but one of thelargest wave basins in the world is acceptable? Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. "Yes, a Superior-Green River pipeline seems unrealistic, even impossible at first glance," Huttner wrote for Minnesota Public Radio. I have dystopian nightmares aboutpipelines marching across the landscape, saidglobal water scarcity expert Jay Famiglietti. Even smaller projects stand to be derailed by similar hiccups. It is time to think outside the box of rain. 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. 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. 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. Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isnt working for snowed-in mountain towns, Letters to the Editor: Ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene? But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. Still, he admits the road hasnt always been easy, and that victory is far from guaranteed. Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was filled 85 years ago. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. China, unlike the US, is unencumbered by NEPA, water rights and democratic processes in general. My state, your state. Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. In 1982,efforts were made to revive the plan by a Parsons company engineer, and the Lyndon Larouche movement supported itas recently as 2010. In 1964, a California engineering company proposed diverting flows from the Yukon and Mackenzie River watersheds, shared by Canada and the U.S., all the way to southern California and into Mexico. Water from these and other large rivers pour. 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.. Politics are an even bigger obstacle for making multi-state pipelines a reality. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where it's used for coastal restoration. Much of the sediment it was carrying was dropped in the slow moving water of the Delta. There are at least half a dozen major water pipeline projects under consideration throughout the region, ranging from ambitious to outlandish. Gavin Newsom reaffirming his support for the ambitious proposal. Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. 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 . Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations. 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.. 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. All rights reserved. . I can't even imagine what it would all cost. Last time I heard, we are still the United States of America.". [1] Yes, it would be hugely expensive. Any water diversion from the Mississippi to Arizona must be pumped about 6,000 feet up, over the Rockies. Asked about a Mississippi River pipeline or other new infrastructure to rescue the Colorado River, federal and state officials declined to respondor said there was no realistic chance such a major infrastructure project is in the offing. Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. 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 elephant in the room, according to Fort, is agriculture, which accounts for more than 80 percent of water withdrawals from the Colorado River. In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. Latitude 3853'06", Longitude 9010'51" NAD27. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. 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. 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. "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 . Savor that while your lawns are dying. Tribes in the Colorado River Basin are fighting for their water. 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. To be talking about pipe dreams when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. 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. 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 actual costs to build such a pipeline today would likely be orders of magnitude higher, thanks to inflation and inevitable construction snags. Do they thank us for using our water? The federal Bureau of Reclamation has already looked at piping 600,000 acre-feet of water a year from either the Missouri or the Mississippi. Take that, Lake Mead. Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. "To my mind, the overriding fatal flaw for large import schemes is the time required to become operational. 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. The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. Parsons said theplanwould replenishthe upper Missouri and Mississippi Rivers during dry spells, increase hydropower along the Columbia Riverand stabilize the Great Lakes. 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. after the growth in California . Letter writers have asked why a water pipeline is not constructed from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River. The delta was tricky for barge traffic and shipping to navigate. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. 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. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, Whats Working: How a Denver nonprofit is expanding the benefits of work. We need to protect our water supply, at allcosts, and forgo our financialgains. 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. 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. 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. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. We are already in a severe drought. "People are spoiled in the United States. 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. But the loss of so much water from the. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. One benefit would be flood control for the Eastern USA . To Larsons knowledge, an in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet. Instagram, Follow us on Last updated on: February 10, 2023, 10:54h. Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. 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. Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. She said extensive public education, aided by federal mandates and financial incentives, eventually led toa wholesale transition that saves millions of gallons of water. . And biologists andenvironmental attorneys saidNew Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. 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. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com or @janetwilson66 on Twitter. Water thieves abound in dry California. "I don't think that drought, especially in the era of climate change, is something we can engineer our way out of.". after the growth in California . PROVISIONAL DATA SUBJECT TO REVISION. Talk about a job-creating infrastructure project, which would rivalthe tremendous civilengineering feats our country used to be noted for. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. The water would be drained via a 36 inch pipe already installed four miles west of Sugarloaf Mountain outside Marquette. The pipeline would help it tap another 86,000 acre-feet of . California Gov. These realities havent stopped the Wests would-be water barons from dreaming. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. This summer, as seven states and Mexico push to meet a Tuesday deadline to agree on plans to shore up the Colorado River and itsshrivelingreservoirs, retired engineer Don Siefkes of San Leandro, California,wrote a letter to The Desert Sun with what he said was asolution to the West's water woes: build an aqueduct from the Old River Control Structure to Lake Powell, 1,489 miles west, to refill the Colorado River system with Mississippi River water. Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. What if our droughts get worse? 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. 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. But interest spans deeper than that. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST Heproposed usingnuclear explosionsto excavate the system's trenches and underground water storage reservoirs. Environmental writerMarc Reisner said the plan was one of "brutal magnificence" and "unprecedented destructiveness." WATER WILL SOON be flowing from Lake Superior to the parched American Southwest. The total projected cost of the plan in 1975 was $100 billion or nearly $570billion in today's dollars,comparable to theInterstate Highway System. 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. The Colorado River is drying up. Each year . Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. 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. 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. 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 . But interest spans deeper than that. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, prodded by members of Congressfrom western states, studied the massive proposal. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. And several approved diversions draw water from the Great Lakes. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Releasing more water downstream would come at the expense of upstream users . 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. 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.
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