Drought-Stricken West Looks to Mississippi River to Solve Water Woes 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 . Facebook, Follow us on 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. "People are spoiled in the United States. Whereas I understand water rights, but globalwarming has introduced new priorities. "Sometimes there is a propensity in areas like Louisiana or the Southwest, where we've had such success in our engineering marvels, to engineer our way out of everything," Newman said. I have dystopian nightmares aboutpipelines marching across the landscape, saidglobal water scarcity expert Jay Famiglietti. 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. 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. Last time I heard, we are still the United States of America.". 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.
Water Pipeline of America - Colorado-Mississippi Pipeline - Zamboanga and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . 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. he said. Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. Don't bother sending notices on conservation; they willbe ignored. Most recently, in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation produced a report laying out a potentially grim future for the Colorado River, and had experts evaluate 14 big ideas commonly touted as potential solutions. In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. Title: USGS Surface-Water Daily Data for the Nation URL: https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv? We are already in a severe drought. 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.. 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. Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was filled 85 years ago. "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 . Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Its largestdam would be 1,700 feet tall, more than twice the height of Hoover Dam. Developed in 1964 by engineer Ralph Parsons and his Pasadena-basedParsons Corporation,the plan would provide 75million acre-feet of water to arid areas inCanada, the United States and Mexico. 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. That project, which also faces heavy headwinds from environmentalists, wouldcost an estimated $12 billion. To be talking about pipe dreams when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. Savor that while your lawns are dying. Famiglietti saidit's time for a national water policy, not to figure out where to lay down hundreds of pipesbut to look comprehensively at the intertwining of agriculture and the lion's share ofwater it uses. As zany as the ideas may sound, could anywork, and if so, what would be the costs? 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. Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. They also concluded environmental and permitting reviews would take decades. But Westford and her colleague Brad Coffey, water resources manager,said desalination is needed in the Golden State. Rescue the oceans from the pollution that flood waters pick up and dump into the ocean, creating dead zones. Power from its hydroelectric dams would boost U.S. electricity supplies. The California Aqueduct carries about 13,000 cubic feet per second through the Central Valley; the Colorado River atLees Ferry runs about 7,000 to 14,000 cfs; the Mississippi at Vicksburg varies from 400,000 to 1.2 million cfs. Were not looking for the last dollar out of this project, he told me.
Booming Utah metro wants to pipe in water from Lake Powell so it can 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.
Ive cowboyed enough in my life to know that you just got to stick to the trail, he said.
Releasing more water downstream would come at the expense of upstream users . 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. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but would require decades of construction and billions of dollars. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. A 45-mile, $16 billion tunnel that would mark California's largest water project in nearly 50 years took a step closer to reality this week, with Gov. Take that, Lake Mead.
Sharing Mississippi River water with California would feed America Any water diversion from the Mississippi to Arizona must be pumped about 6,000 feet up, over the Rockies. 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. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesn't always have enough water to spare. 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. An acre-foot is enough water to serve about two households for a year, so it could supply water to 150 million customers. Do they thank us for using our water? Photos of snowfall around northern Arizona. Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California.
Can Water Megaprojects Save The US Desert West? (Part 2) Who is Kevin Paffrath? Democrat recall candidate calls for a pipeline 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. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. Each year . Yes, it would be hugely expensive. 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. 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. But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . He said hes open to one but doesnt think its necessary.
Is California still in a drought? Recent storms fill many CA reservoirs "Arizona really, really wants oceanfront," she chuckled. 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. Known as one of the greenest commercial buildings in the world, since it opened its doors on Earth Day in 2013 the Bullitt Center has been setting a new standard for sustainable design. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com 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. This aerial photo of Davenport, Iowa, shows Mississippi River floodwaters in May 2019. 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. 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. The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. 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. Their detractors counter that, in an era of permanent aridification driven by climate change, the only sustainable solution is not to bring in more water, but to consume less of it. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesnt always have enough water to spare. Plus, the federal report found the water would be of much lower quality than other western water sources. Improved simulations of streamflow and base flow for selected sites within and adjacent to the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain area are important for modeling groundwater flow because surface-water flows have a substantial effect on groundwater levels. 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. The ongoing drought in California has hit its fourth year. 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. 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. But water expertssaid it would likely take at least 30 years to clear legal hurdles to such a plan. 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. . 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.
Is pumping Mississippi River water west a solution or pipe dream? Pitt, who was a technical adviser on Reclamation's2012 report,decried ceaselesspipeline proposals. The diverted flow would require massive water tunnels, since a flow of 250,000. 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. 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.
The Abandoned Plan That Could Have Saved America From Drought Mississippi River to Colorado River Solar Powered Pipeline - Halfbakery Every day, we hear about water conservation, restrictions. Parsons said theplanwould replenishthe upper Missouri and Mississippi Rivers during dry spells, increase hydropower along the Columbia Riverand stabilize the Great Lakes. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about.
Palm Springs newspaper readers' drought fix: Siphon Mississippi Sharing Mississippi water with California would help feed America - Yahoo! 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. The most obvious problem with this proposal is its mind-boggling cost.
Shipping Snow: Could Eastern Water Ease Western Drought? One proposed solution to the Colorado River Basin's water scarcity crisis has come up again and again: large-scale river diversions, including pumping Mississippi River water to the parched West . Certainly not the surrounding communities.
The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. Would itbe expensive? To be talking about pipe dreams, when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. .
A water pipeline from the Mississippi River to the west? - Los Angeles 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. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. 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?