Millions in the Southwest will literally be left in the dark and blistering heat when theres no longer enough water behind the dam to power the giant electricity-producing turbines. Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. Take that, Lake Mead. 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. The Arizona Legislature wants the federal government to study the feasibility of constructing a pipeline . The lawsuit, originally filed in southern Texas' federal courts Jan. 18, was amended to include Idaho on Monday. Can drought-stricken CA get water from Midwest via pipeline? Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. Water use has gone down 40% per capita in recent years, said Coffey. Could a water pipeline from the Mississippi River to Arizona be a real solution? Once again, Arizona hopes to import out-of-state water in face of crisis Arizona and Nevada residents must curb their use of water from the Colorado River, and California could be next. Water pipeline not feasible - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper 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. The bigger obstacles are fiscal, legal, environmentaland most of all, political. Sharing Mississippi water with California would help feed America - Yahoo! The ongoing drought in California has hit its fourth year. Runa giant hose from the Columbia River along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to refill Diamond Valley Reservoir. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. Is sending Mississippi water to West feasible? Experts weigh in Don't bother sending notices on conservation; they willbe ignored. For one, theres no longer enough unclaimed water to make most pipeline projects cost-effective. 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. What if our droughts get worse? 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. Pipeline debate at center of California carbon capture plans No. These realities havent stopped the Wests would-be water barons from dreaming. Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure dont need all that water. The main pipeline would span about 1,000 miles from Jackson, Miss., along the southern borders of Colorado and Utah to Lake Powell, at an elevation of about 3,700 feet. Another businessman in New Mexico has pushed plans to pump river water 150 miles to the city of Santa Fe, but that water would have to be pumped uphill. Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. 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. 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. YouTube. The water will drain into the headwaters of the Colorado river. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. Diverting the Missouri River to the West: 'Can' Does Not - HuffPost Can Water Megaprojects Save The US Desert West? (Part 2) Gavin Newsom reaffirming his support for the ambitious proposal. Why does California want to build a $16 billion water pipeline? Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients and invasive species. 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 water expertssaid it would likely take at least 30 years to clear legal hurdles to such a plan. Take for instance the so-called Water Horse pipeline, a pet project of a Colorado investor and entrepreneur named Aaron Million. But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. he said. But pipelines and other big ideaswill always attract interest, hydrology experts said, because they falsely promise an innovative, easy way out. 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. Follow us on The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations, bans large waterexportsoutside of the area. 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. Water is the new oil: Piping Lake Superior water West? The pipeline will end in the Rocky Mountain National park. Noting about 4.5 million gallons per second of Mississippi River flow past the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana, the letter writer explains diverting 250,000 gallons per second would. Experts say theres a proverbial snowballs chance in August of most of theseschemes being implemented. Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. That's a big pipe: Retired engineer suggests aqueduct from Mississippi Is Getting Great Lakes Water To The Southwest Just A Pipedream Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isnt working for snowed-in mountain towns, Letters to the Editor: Ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene? To Larsons knowledge, an in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet. All that snow in Arizona is nice now but officials worry that it could create disastrous flooding and wildfire conditions. Senior citizens dont go to wave parks. "We do not expect to see (carbon capture and storage) happen at a large scale unless we are able to address that pipeline issue," said Rajinder Sahota, deputy executive officer for climate change . "I think that societally, we want to be more flexible. Who is going to come to the desert and use it? PROVISIONAL DATA SUBJECT TO REVISION. Conservation alternatives are less palatable than big infrastructure projects, but theyre also more achievable. 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. From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka): Hausler's idea is to bring water from the Mississippi just below its confluence with the Ohio River across Missouri and Kansas into Colorado. Many sawSiefkes' idea and others like it as sheer theft by a region that needs to fix its own woes. Plus, the federal report found the water would be of much lower quality than other western water sources. That project, which also faces heavy headwinds from environmentalists, wouldcost an estimated $12 billion. Answer (1 of 21): Interbasin transfer is something we try to avoid. These canals and pipelines are . Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. Grab hydrogen and oxygen from the air and make artificialrain. The delta was tricky for barge traffic and shipping to navigate. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. All rights reserved. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. 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. An in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet to Larsons knowledge. ", Westford of Southern California's Metropolitan Water District agreed. Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was filled 85 years ago. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or pipe dream? As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. WATER WILL SOON be flowing from Lake Superior to the parched American Southwest. Any water diversion from the Mississippi to Arizona must be pumped about 6,000 feet up, over the Rockies. In China, the massiveSouth-to-North Water Diversion Projectis the largest such project ever undertaken. Water from these and other large rivers pour. 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. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. We have to conserve water, butnota ridiculous wave parkthat willprobably go bankrupt? 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. 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. We've had relatively rich resources for so long,we've never really had to deal withthis before, andwe don't want to change.". The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. An "interstate water system" could fix the West's water woes In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. 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. Pipelines usually consist of sections of pipe made of . 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. Theyre all such hypocrites. (Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis, July 11). 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. Democrat recall candidate Kevin Paffrath wants filter systems | The To be talking about pipe dreams, when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. 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. 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. If we had a big pipeline from Lake Sakakawea, we wouldn't just dump it into Lake Powell. So moving water that far away to supplement the ColoradoRiver, I don't think is viable. Here's How. In their technical report, which hasnt been peer-reviewed, they calculated that a pipe for moving this scale of water would need to be 88 feet in diameter around twice the length of a semi trailer or a 100-foot-wide channel thats 61 feet deep. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. But interest spans deeper than that. 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? Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream Physically, some could be achieved. Why are they so hard to catch? 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. Lake Superior Water Headed to the Southwest - Word on the Street As the largest single contractor of the SWP and a major supporter of Southern California water conservation and recycling programs, Metropolitan seeks feasible alternatives to convey Colorado River Aqueduct supplies or Diamond Valley Lake storage from the eastern portion of its service area or purified water from Pure Water Southern California . Great Lakes water piped to Southwest 'our future,' says NASA scientist We have already introduced invasive species all over the continentzebra mussels, quagga mussels, grass carp, spiny water flea, lampreys, ru. One benefit would be flood control for the Eastern USA . Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but would require decades of construction and billions of dollars. The largest eastern river, the Mississippi, has about 30 times the average annual flow of the Colorado, and the Columbia has close to 10 times. "My son will never know what a six-gallon toilet looks like," she said. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. "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?" 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. 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. Arizona, which holds "junior"rights to Colorado River water, meaning it has already been forced to make cuts and might be legally required to make far larger reductions, wants to build a bi-national desalination plant at the Sea of Cortez, which separates Baja California from the Mexican mainland. after the growth in California . The Colorado River is drying up. Weve had a few blizzards along the way, and some gun battles, but it is what it is.. A pipeline taking water from the Missouri River west makes perfect sense, if you don't care about money, energy, or the environment. We need to protect our water supply, at allcosts, and forgo our financialgains. 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. Water Pipeline of America - Colorado-Mississippi Pipeline - Zamboanga . 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. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. 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. Its largestdam would be 1,700 feet tall, more than twice the height of Hoover Dam. It is time to think outside the box of rain. Water thieves abound in dry California. She points to her earlyworkfor comparison. Colorado River crisis: Can water be piped from Mississippi, Missouri? 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. 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. 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. Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California. Title: USGS Surface-Water Daily Data for the Nation URL: https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv? The Great Lakes Compact, signed by President George W. Bush in 2008,bans large waterexportsoutside of the areawithout the approval of all eight states bordering them andinput fromOntario and Quebec. An earlier version of this story misidentified for which agency Jennifer Pitt was a technical adviser. This One thousand mile long pipeline could move water from the Eastern USA (Great Lakes, Ohio River, Missouri River, and Mississippi River) to the Colorado River via the Mississippi River. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. It boggles the mind. Instagram, Follow us on Releasing more water downstream would come at the expense of upstream users . 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. Butbig water infrastructure projects aren't just of interest to the general public. The agency is moving forward with smallerprojects across the state to reduce seismic and hydrologic risks, like eliminating leaks or seepage, including at four existing dams and related spillways in Riverside and Los Angeles counties. The Western U.S. is experiencing its driest period in more than a thousand years, according to scientists from UCLA and Columbia University. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. Siphon off a big portion, and youd be swapping oneecological catastrophe for another, said Audubons Johnson. 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. The list of projects that run on similarly magical thinking goes on: Utah wants to build a pipeline of its own from Lake Powell to the fast-growing city of St. George, but Lake Powell has almost no water left. Is pumping Mississippi River water west a solution or pipe dream? . Hydrologic Unit Code 07110009. Politics are an even bigger obstacle for making multi-state pipelines a reality. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. The . Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. Letter writers have asked why a water pipeline is not constructed from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River. Pipeline from Mississippi - Coyote Gulch . [1] Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Anyone who thinks we can drain the aquifer and survive is grossly misinformed. ", But desert defenders pushed back. Heproposed usingnuclear explosionsto excavate the system's trenches and underground water storage reservoirs. Every day, we hear about water conservation, restrictions. Donate today to keep our climate news free. An acre-foot is enough water to serve about two households for a year, so it could supply water to 150 million customers. 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. 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. If you dont have enough of it, go find more. She and others worked to persuade reluctant consumers, builders and policymakers to ditchwidely usedsix-gallon flush toilets in favor of perfectly effective two-gallon versions. Opinion: How has American healthcare gone so wrong? "The engineering is feasible. Design and build by Upstatement. The Nevada Legislature is considering a bill that, if passed, would require restaurants to only provide water upon customer request. It was the Bureau of Reclamation. 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. We want to have more sustainable infrastructure. 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. Local hurdles include endangered species protections, wetlands protections, drinking water supply considerations and interstate shipping protections. The resulting fresh water would bepiped northto the thirsty state. 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. 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. 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. The 2012 study didn't discount either option but. This would take 254 days to fill.. 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 . Among its provisions, the law granted the states water infrastructure finance authority to investigate the feasibility of potential out-of-state water import agreements. This aerial photo of Davenport, Iowa, shows Mississippi River floodwaters in May 2019.