John Kaufman, the man who proposed the Missouri River pipeline, wants to see the artificial boundaries expand. An in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet to Larsons knowledge. . Anyone who thinks we can drain the aquifer and survive is grossly misinformed. Donate today tohelp keep Grists site and newsletters free. Here are 2 reasons why the drought in California won't open the door to 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. Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream 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. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. The trooper inside suffered minor injuries. Drought Revives Mississippi River Pipe Dreams - The Waterways Journal 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. We have to conserve water, butnota ridiculous wave parkthat willprobably go bankrupt? Weve had a few blizzards along the way, and some gun battles, but it is what it is.. 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. I have dystopian nightmares aboutpipelines marching across the landscape, saidglobal water scarcity expert Jay Famiglietti. 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. 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. Can Water Megaprojects Save The US Desert West? (Part 2) On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council agreed on a proposal to treat water and deliver it to the community for three years. The memorial also suggests that the pipeline could be used as stormwater infrastructure to prevent regular flooding along the . Officials imposed the state's first-ever water restrictions on cities and towns, and California farmers are drilling deeper and . In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. Water Pipeline of America - Colorado-Mississippi Pipeline - Zamboanga Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients, and invasive species. Pipelines usually consist of sections of pipe made of . In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. "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. Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isnt working for snowed-in mountain towns, Letters to the Editor: Ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene? As zany as the ideas may sound, could anywork, and if so, what would be the costs? But if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. 00:00 00:00 An unknown error. 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. The actual costs to build such a pipeline today would likely be orders of magnitude higher, thanks to inflation and inevitable construction snags. Why not begin a grand national infrastructure project of building a water pipeline from those flooded states to the Southwest? Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where it's used for coastal restoration. He said a major wastewater reuse project that MWD plans to implement by 2032 could ultimately yield up 150 million gallons of potable water a day from treated waste. Runa giant hose from the Columbia River along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to refill Diamond Valley Reservoir. Last updated on: February 10, 2023, 10:54h. A plan to divert Mississippi flood waters to west is proposed Western Water Woes - Is Big Infrastructure the Way to Go? Is Getting Great Lakes Water To The Southwest Just A Pipedream But interest spans deeper than that. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or dream? Do they thank us for using our water? All rights reserved. Environmental writerMarc Reisner said the plan was one of "brutal magnificence" and "unprecedented destructiveness." To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. Too wacky? Moving water from flood to drought - Phys.org Is California still in a drought? Recent storms fill many CA reservoirs 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. Even smaller projects stand to be derailed by similar hiccups. 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. Moreover, we need water in our dams for. The snowbirds commonly stay here for at least six months. Here in the scorching Coachella Valley, local governments have approved construction of four surf resorts for the very wealthy. All rights reserved. As part of our commitment to sustainability, in 2021 Grist moved its office headquarters to the Bullitt Center in Seattles vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood. This aerial photo of Davenport, Iowa, shows Mississippi River floodwaters in May 2019. Could massive water pipelines solve the West's drought crisis? | Grist 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. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. 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.. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Not mentioned was the great grand-daddy of all schemes for re-allocating water, known as the North American Water and Power Authority Plan. 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. Talk about a job-creating infrastructure project, which would rivalthe tremendous civilengineering feats our country used to be noted for. Still, its physically possible. Available data for this site Madison County, Illinois. As politicians across the West confront the consequences of the climate-fueled Millennium Drought, many of them are heeding the words of Chinatown and trying to bring in outside water through massive capital projects. 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. Million sued, and he says he expects a ruling this year. A drive up Interstate 5 shows how muchland has been fallowed due tolack of water. Stop letting excess water flow out to sea. Take that, Lake Mead. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. Politics are an even bigger obstacle for making multi-state pipelines a reality. I find it interesting that households have to watch how much water theyare usingfor washing clothes, wateringlawns, washing cars,etc. 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 . 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. The idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. But the idea hasnever completely died. In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. YouTube. Leading environmental engineering firm to study alternative water Power from its hydroelectric dams would boost U.S. electricity supplies. But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. 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. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. It was the Bureau of Reclamation. Conservation alternatives are less palatable than big infrastructure projects, but theyre also more achievable. In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. 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. We've had relatively rich resources for so long,we've never really had to deal withthis before, andwe don't want to change.". 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. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. The . 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. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. 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. Let's be really clear here. When finished, the $62 billion project will link Chinas four main rivers and requiresconstruction of three lengthy diversion routes, one using as its basethe1,100-mile longHangzhou-to-Beijing canal, which dates from the 7th century AD. He said the most pragmatic approach would only pump Midwest water to the metro Denver area, to substitute forimports to the Front Range on the east side of the Rockies, avoiding "staggering" costs to pump water over the Continental Divide. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. 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? Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but require decades of construction and billions of dollars. 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. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? Among its provisions, the law granted the states water infrastructure finance authority to investigate the feasibility of potential out-of-state water import agreements. 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. 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. Why are they so hard to catch? Diverting the Missouri River to the West: 'Can' Does Not - HuffPost In 1982,efforts were made to revive the plan by a Parsons company engineer, and the Lyndon Larouche movement supported itas recently as 2010. We have already introduced invasive species all over the continentzebra mussels, quagga mussels, grass carp, spiny water flea, lampreys, ru. Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or pipe dream? 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. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. 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. This would take 254 days to fill.. ", But desert defenders pushed back. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. But there are tons of things that can be done but arent ever done.. The idea's been dismissed for as long as it's. 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. [1] "Recently I have noticed several letters to the editor in your publication that promoted taking water from the Mississippi River or the Great Lakes and diverting it to California via pipeline or . 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. Latitude 3853'06", Longitude 9010'51" NAD27. 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. The idea is as old and dusty as the desert Southwest: Pipe abundant Great Lakes water to parched cities out West, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas. 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. What's the solution to West's water crisis? Desperate ideas explained Since about 1983, Lake Mead has dropped in volume from full capacity at. 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. Once again, Arizona hopes to import out-of-state water in face of crisis Were not looking for the last dollar out of this project, he told me. General Manager Henry Martinez also warned that cutting water to Imperial Valley farmers and nearby Yuma County, Arizona, could lead to a food crisis as well as a water crisis. Pipe water from the plentiful Great Lakes to deserted towns in the West like Phoenix and Las Vegas. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. 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. 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. Don't bother sending notices on conservation; they willbe ignored. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. And several approved diversions draw water from the Great Lakes. Democrat recall candidate Kevin Paffrath wants filter systems | The 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. The Nevada Legislature is considering a bill that, if passed, would require restaurants to only provide water upon customer request. 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. Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. 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. Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure dont need all that water. Absolutely. The elephant in the room, according to Fort, is agriculture, which accounts for more than 80 percent of water withdrawals from the Colorado River. What goes into the cat-and-mouse game of forecasting Colorados avalanche risks? "I started withtoilets, I was the toilet queen of L.A.," said Westford. Still, he admits the road hasnt always been easy, and that victory is far from guaranteed. But pipelines and other big ideaswill always attract interest, hydrology experts said, because they falsely promise an innovative, easy way out. Despite the recent defeat of a major plant in Huntington Beach, after the California Coastal Commission said it was too environmentally damaging, "ocean desalination can't be off the table," said Coffey. In it, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Idaho Attorney General Ral Labrador contend that a new interpretation of a Clean Water Act rule is too vague, oversteps the bounds of federal authority and puts the liberties of states and private property owners at risk. 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. 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? For as long as this idea has been proposed. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. 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. 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. All rights reserved. Twitter, Follow us on Donate today to keep our climate news free. Makes me wonder how this got this far, whose interests are being served and who's benefiting. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, Whats Working: How a Denver nonprofit is expanding the benefits of work. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. The Abandoned Plan That Could Have Saved America From Drought What states in the Southwest have failed to do is curtail growth and agriculture that is, of course, water-driven. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. Any water diversion from the Mississippi to Arizona must be pumped about 6,000 feet up, over the Rockies. Proposed interstate water pipelines to California - Wikipedia People fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta's Elk Slough near Courtland, California, on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. They also concluded environmental and permitting reviews would take decades. 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. The Mississippi used to flow through a delta full of bayous, shifting sad bars, And islets. 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. "To my mind, the overriding fatal flaw for large import schemes is the time required to become operational. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. 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 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. Why does California want to build a $16 billion water pipeline? Heres why thats wise, Nicholas Goldberg: How I became a tool of Chinas giant anti-American propaganda machine, Opinion: Girls reporting sexual abuse shouldnt have to fear being prosecuted. Much of the sediment it was carrying was dropped in the slow moving water of the Delta. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Its possible that the situation gets so dire that there is an amount of money out there that could overcome all of these obstacles, Larson said. 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. But it's doable. The 2012 study didn't discount either option but. Colorado River crisis: Can water be piped from Mississippi, Missouri? The Associated Press Climate team contributed images and page design. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. Many sawSiefkes' idea and others like it as sheer theft by a region that needs to fix its own woes. "The desalinationplant Arizona has scoped out would be by far the largest ever in North America,"said Jennifer Pitt, National Audubon Society's Colorado River program director. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. 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. Parsons said theplanwould replenishthe upper Missouri and Mississippi Rivers during dry spells, increase hydropower along the Columbia Riverand stabilize the Great Lakes. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com 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. 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. 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. In 2012, the U.S. Department of the Interiors Bureau of Reclamation completed the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken within the Colorado River Basin at the time, which analyzed solutions to water supply issues including importing water from the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or pipe dream? Opinion: California gave up on mandating COVID vaccines for schoolchildren. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. Is pumping Mississippi River water west a solution or pipe dream?

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