Coffey said the project isn't really a pipeline, but more "a bypass for an aging 60-year-old"system. 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. 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. But interest spans deeper than that. 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. 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. But interest spans deeper than that. People fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta's Elk Slough near Courtland, California, on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. My state, your state. It would cost at least $1,700 per acre-feet of water, potentially yield 600,000 acre-feet of water per year by 2060 and take 30 years to construct. Last time I heard, we are still the United States of America.". It would turn the Southwest into an oasis, and the Great Basin into productive farmland. Plus, the federal report found the water would be of much lower quality than other western water sources. But the loss of so much water from the. 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. Stop letting excess water flow out to sea. 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. . Letter writers have asked why a water pipeline is not constructed from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River. Proponents of these projects argue that they could stabilize western cities for decades to come, connecting populations with unclaimed water rights. 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. No. Why does California want to build a $16 billion water pipeline? 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, an Arizona State University professor of water law. Let's be really clear here. 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. Answer (1 of 21): Interbasin transfer is something we try to avoid. There are at least half a dozen major water pipeline projects under consideration throughout the region, ranging from ambitious to outlandish. "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. He said hes open to one but doesnt think its necessary. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, Whats Working: How a Denver nonprofit is expanding the benefits of work. And several approved diversions draw water from the Great Lakes. Even smaller projects stand to be derailed by similar hiccups. 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. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. 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. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. Why not begin a grand national infrastructure project of building a water pipeline from those flooded states to the Southwest? Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. 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 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. 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. They also concluded environmental and permitting reviews would take decades. 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. Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. 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. Is Getting Great Lakes Water To The Southwest Just A Pipedream He frames the pipeline as a complement to water-saving policies. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients and invasive species. Do we have the political will? In China, the massiveSouth-to-North Water Diversion Projectis the largest such project ever undertaken. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. 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. So moving water that far away to supplement the ColoradoRiver, I don't think is viable. Guess Who Proposed the Missouri River Pipeline in the Federal Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. 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. Is this a goo. The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. 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. Simulation of monthly mean and monthly base flow of streamflow using Local hurdles include endangered species protections, wetlands protections, drinking water supply considerations and interstate shipping protections. The sharing of water would greatly contribute to California being able to feed the nation. 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. 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. An earlier version of this story misidentified for which agency Jennifer Pitt was a technical adviser. Snowpacks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains have swelled to more than 200% their normal size, and snowfall across the rest of the Colorado River Basin is trending above average, too. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. This would take 254 days to fill.. Petition End Floods in America by Creating a Pipeline Network to The snowbirds commonly stay here for at least six months. And contrary to Siefkes' claims, experts said, the silty river flows provide sediment critical to shore up the rapidly disappearing Louisiana coast andbarrier islands chewed to bits by hurricanes and sea rise. There are no easy fixes to a West that has grown and has allocated all of its water theres no silver bullet, she said. 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 . Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants,. 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. The water would be drained via a 36 inch pipe already installed four miles west of Sugarloaf Mountain outside Marquette. Those will require sacrifices, no doubt but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require, experts said. 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. 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. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. Can drought-stricken CA get water from Midwest via pipeline? Such major infrastructure is an absolute necessity, said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, who said he represents the governor on all things Colorado River.. "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 . The letter and others with an array of ideasgenerated hugeinterest from readers around the country and debate about whether the conceptsare technically feasible, politically possible orenvironmentally wise. Among its provisions, the law granted the states water infrastructure finance authority to investigate the feasibility of potential out-of-state water import agreements. The most obvious problem with this proposal is its mind-boggling cost. 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. 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. Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. Meanwhile, a rookie Democrat running for governor in Californias recall election last year proposed declaring a state of emergency in order to build a similar project. Heres how that affects Indigenous water rights, Salton Sea public health disaster gets a $250 million shot in the arm. About 60 percent of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. Theyre all such hypocrites. 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. Politics are an even bigger obstacle to making multi-state pipelines a reality. But pipelines and other big ideaswill always attract interest, hydrology experts said, because they falsely promise an innovative, easy way out. Famiglietti also said while oil companies are willing to spend millions because their product yields high profits per gallon, that's not the case with water, typically considered a public resource. Anyone who thinks we can drain the aquifer and survive is grossly misinformed. Each year . Pipeline | Definition, History, Types, Uses, & Facts | Britannica But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid Westhave beenfloated for decades. 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. The total projected cost of the plan in 1975 was $100 billion or nearly $570billion in today's dollars,comparable to theInterstate Highway System. LAS VEGAS -- Lake Mead has nearly set a new record when its water level measured at 1081.10 feet, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. Others said the costs of an Arizona-Mexico desalination plant would also likely prove infeasible. 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. It was the Bureau of Reclamation. Water is the new oil: Piping Lake Superior water West? But there are tons of things that can be done but arent ever done.. Skelton: A pipeline to the Mississippi? Silly as the recall - Los If we had a big pipeline from Lake Sakakawea, we wouldn't just dump it into Lake Powell. The Abandoned Plan That Could Have Saved America From Drought Instagram, Follow us on "This sounds outlandish, but we have a massive problem," Paffrath said. The Associated Press Climate team contributed images and page design. The hypothetical Mississippi River pipeline, which gained new life last year amid devastating drought conditions, is a case in point. 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. 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. But it's doable. More by The Associated Press, Got a story tip? You could do it.". Great Lakes water piped to Southwest 'our future,' says NASA scientist . Ive cowboyed enough in my life to know that you just got to stick to the trail, he said. Politics are an even bigger obstacle for making multi-state pipelines a reality. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or dream? [1] Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. What goes into the cat-and-mouse game of forecasting Colorados avalanche risks? 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. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or dream? Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. Nonetheless, Siefkes trans-basin pipeline proposal went viral, receiving nearly half a million views. 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. 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 . Shipping Snow: Could Eastern Water Ease Western Drought? But the idea hasnever completely died. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. "I don't think that drought, especially in the era of climate change, is something we can engineer our way out of.". The resulting fresh water would bepiped northto the thirsty state. We have to conserve water, butnota ridiculous wave parkthat willprobably go bankrupt? 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. Were not looking for the last dollar out of this project, he told me. According to DPS, the driver of the semi-truck lost control of the truck on the icy I-40 freeway near Williams, striking a DPS patrol car parked by the side of the highway. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST . But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. Parsons said theplanwould replenishthe upper Missouri and Mississippi Rivers during dry spells, increase hydropower along the Columbia Riverand stabilize the Great Lakes. 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. 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. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations, bans large waterexportsoutside of the area. He raised the possibility that policymakers will seek to build a 900-mile pipeline from Lake Superior to the Green River watershed in southwest Wyoming. Reader support helps sustain our work. The Mississippi used to flow through a delta full of bayous, shifting sad bars, And islets. Heproposed usingnuclear explosionsto excavate the system's trenches and underground water storage reservoirs. 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. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. 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. Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. 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. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council agreed on a proposal to treat water and deliver it to the community for three years. And biologists andenvironmental attorneys saidNew Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water. The . I can't even imagine what it would all cost. 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. California Gov. 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. Instagram, Follow us on But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. 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. I find it interesting that households have to watch how much water theyare usingfor washing clothes, wateringlawns, washing cars,etc. Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesnt always have enough water to spare. 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. We've had relatively rich resources for so long,we've never really had to deal withthis before, andwe don't want to change.". 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. The idea of drinking even heavily treated liquid wastemay seem unpalatable, but Westfordthinks people will adapt. Moreover, we need water in our dams for hydroelectric power as well as for drinking and irrigation, so we would power the Hoover, Glen Canyon and Parker dams. 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. Can you solve drought by piping water across the country? - New York Times The bigger obstacles are fiscal, legal, environmentaland most of all, political. This aerial photo of Davenport, Iowa, shows Mississippi River floodwaters in May 2019. Do they thank us for using our water? An in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet to Larsons knowledge. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. We need to protect our water supply, at allcosts, and forgo our financialgains. 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. "The engineering is feasible. Whereas I understand water rights, but globalwarming has introduced new priorities. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. Yes. Why can't California build a pipeline for water from other states Meanwhile, watershed states in the U.S., and even counties havetaken actionto preventsuch schemes. The water will drain into the headwaters of the Colorado river. Still, its physically possible. 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. 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. "Arizona really, really wants oceanfront," she chuckled. Conservation alternatives are less palatable than big infrastructure projects, but theyre also more achievable. Amid a major drought in the Western U.S., a proposed solution comes up repeatedly: large-scale river diversions, including pumping Mississippi River water to parched states. 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. Any water diversion from the Mississippi to Arizona must be pumped about 6,000 feet up, over the Rockies. 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. 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. 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. 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. 10/4/2021. But Westford and her colleague Brad Coffey, water resources manager,said desalination is needed in the Golden State. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. 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. 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. Some plans call for a connection to. 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 . By Brittney J. Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette. YouTube star and Democratic political novice Kevin Paffrath proposed the Mississippi River pipeline last week during a debate among candidates seeking to replace Gov. Almost two decades ago, when Million was working on a masters thesis, he happened upon a map that showed the Green River making a brief detour into Colorado on its way through Utah. Arizona and Nevada residents must curb their use of water from the Colorado River, and California could be next. Grab hydrogen and oxygen from the air and make artificialrain. Butbig water infrastructure projects aren't just of interest to the general public. The Arizona Legislature wants the federal government to study the feasibility of constructing a pipeline . Pipeline from the Mississippi River to Colorado? - Coyote Gulch Steps are being taken to address water issues in Buckeye. All rights reserved. Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. 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? Could massive water pipelines solve the West's drought crisis? | Grist