Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. 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. They also concluded environmental and permitting reviews would take decades. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST Its easy to understand why politicians want to throw their weight behind similar present-day projects, Fort told Grist, but projects of this size just arent practical anymore. 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. Makes me wonder how this got this far, whose interests are being served and who's benefiting. "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?" 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. ", But desert defenders pushed back. Available data for this site Madison County, Illinois. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, Whats Working: How a Denver nonprofit is expanding the benefits of work. As recently as 2021, the Arizona state legislature urged Congress to fund a technological and feasibility study of a diversion dam and pipeline scheme to harvest floodwater from the Mississippi River to replenish the Colorado River. Physically, some could be achieved. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. 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. 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. 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. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It would turn the Southwest into an oasis, and the Great Basin into productive farmland. All rights reserved. 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. 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. 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. Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. 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 if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. YouTube, Follow us on 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. Local hurdles include endangered species protections, wetlands protections, drinking water supply considerations and interstate shipping protections. Gavin Newsom if he's. 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. Twitter, Follow us on 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. 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. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Rescue the oceans from the pollution that flood waters pick up and dump into the ocean, creating dead zones. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. If you dont have enough of it, go find more. 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. This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. 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. Why are they so hard to catch? But interest spans deeper than that. The state should do everything possible to push conservation, but thats not going to cure the issue, he told Grist. Why not begin a grand national infrastructure project of building a water pipeline from those flooded states to the Southwest? The idea's been dismissed for as long as it's. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. Haul icebergs from the Arctic to a new southern California port. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. Even if the sticker price werent so prohibitive, there are other obstacles. No. 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. Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. Ive cowboyed enough in my life to know that you just got to stick to the trail, he said. Weve had a few blizzards along the way, and some gun battles, but it is what it is.. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants,. 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. 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. Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. Releasing more water downstream would come at the expense of upstream users . On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. 00:00 00:00 An unknown error. Pat Mulroy, head of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, pitched a bold idea at a US Chamber of Commerce event last week: divert excess Mississippi River water to the west to irrigate crops to reduce pressure on the stressed Colorado River. 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. A multi-state pipeline could easily require decades before it delivers a drop of water," said Michael Cohen, senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. The actual costs to build such a pipeline today would likely be orders of magnitude higher, thanks to inflation and inevitable construction snags. My water, your water. Here's How. Butbig water infrastructure projects aren't just of interest to the general public. "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 . When that happens, it wont be just tourists and recreational boaters who will suffer. Coffey said the project isn't really a pipeline, but more "a bypass for an aging 60-year-old"system. Water use has gone down 40% per capita in recent years, said Coffey. No. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but would require decades of construction and billions of dollars. For decades, key stewards of the river have ignored the massive water loss, instead allocating Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico their share of the river without subtracting whats evaporated. But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. 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 to pump even more water out of the already-depleted Lake Powell. But in the face of continuing, ever-worsening drought and ongoing growth of the cities of the desert Southwest, is there a better idea out there? To be talking about pipe dreams, when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. Much of the sediment it was carrying was dropped in the slow moving water of the Delta. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. This latest version would curve up through the Wyoming flatlands and back down to Fort Collins, a distance of around 340 miles. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. But interest spans deeper than that. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. Parsons said theplanwould replenishthe upper Missouri and Mississippi Rivers during dry spells, increase hydropower along the Columbia Riverand stabilize the Great Lakes. Instagram, Follow us on The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. Arizona and Nevada residents must curb their use of water from the Colorado River, and California could be next. Los Angeles-area water districts have implemented much of what Famiglietti mentioned. The state is expected to lose 10% of its water over the next two decades, reports the . 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 pipeline will end in the Rocky Mountain National park. In 1982,efforts were made to revive the plan by a Parsons company engineer, and the Lyndon Larouche movement supported itas recently as 2010. Politics are an even bigger obstacle for making multi-state pipelines a reality. 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. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. 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. "I started withtoilets, I was the toilet queen of L.A.," said Westford. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST . All rights reserved. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. Pitt, who was a technical adviser on Reclamation's2012 report,decried ceaselesspipeline proposals. 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. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. pipeline, line of pipe equipped with pumps and valves and other control devices for moving liquids, gases, and slurries (fine particles suspended in liquid). In southeastern California,officials at the Imperial Irrigation District, which is entitled toby far the largest share of Colorado River water, say any move to strip theirrights would result in legal challenges that could last years. 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. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. Could a water pipeline from the Mississippi River to Arizona be a real solution? But the idea hasnever completely died. An earlier version of this story misidentified for which agency Jennifer Pitt was a technical adviser. Here are some facts to put perspective to severalof the opinions already expressed here: An aqueduct running from thelower Mississippi to the Colorado River (via the San Juan River tributary, at Farmington, New Mexico), with the same capacity as the California Aqueduct, would roughly double the flow of thelatter while taking merely 1-3% of the formers flow. A pipeline taking water from the Missouri River west makes perfect sense, if you don't care about money, energy, or the environment. 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.. 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 . The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, prodded by members of Congressfrom western states, studied the massive proposal. 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. In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. 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. Still, its physically possible. 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. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . He frames the pipeline as a complement to water-saving policies. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but require decades of construction and billions of dollars. But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. "I'm an optimist," said Coffey, who said local conservation is key. But pipelines and other big ideaswill always attract interest, hydrology experts said, because they falsely promise an innovative, easy way out. 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. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients, and invasive species. he said. Officials imposed the state's first-ever water restrictions on cities and towns, and California farmers are drilling deeper and . 10/4/2021. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. 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. A recent edition of The Desert Sun had twoletters objectingto piping water from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River, and on to California. The sharing of water would greatly contribute to California being able to feed the nation. Their technical report, which hasnt been peer-reviewed. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. John Kaufman, the man who proposed the Missouri River pipeline, wants to see the artificial boundaries expand. Their technical report, which hasnt been peer-reviewed, 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. But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid Westhave beenfloated for decades. 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. 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. The pipeline would provide the Colorado River basin with 600,000 acre-feet of water annually, which could serve roughly a million single-family homes. 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. 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. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients and invasive species. 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. Environmental writerMarc Reisner said the plan was one of "brutal magnificence" and "unprecedented destructiveness." It is time to think outside the box of rain. But interest spans deeper than that. after the growth in California . Moreover, we need water in our dams for. 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. 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.. Design and build by Upstatement. 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. If this gets any traction at all, people in the flyover states of the Missouri River basin probably will scream, one water official told the New York Times when the project first received attention. California wants to build a $16 billion pipeline to draw water out of the Sacramento River Delta and down to the southern part of the state, but critics say the project would deprive Delta farmers of water and destroy local ecosystems. 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. 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. 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. 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. ", Westford of Southern California's Metropolitan Water District agreed. 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 . Large amounts of fossil fuelenergy neededto pump water over the Rockies would increase the very climate change thats exacerbating the 1,200-year drought afflicting the Colorado River in the first place, said Newman, who in his previous job helped the state of Colorado design a long-term water conservation plan. 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. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. 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. We have already introduced invasive species all over the continentzebra mussels, quagga mussels, grass carp, spiny water flea, lampreys, ru. "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 . 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. You could do it.". 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. Each year . 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Take that, Lake Mead. 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. 2023 www.desertsun.com. Photos of snowfall around northern Arizona. 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. Experts say those will require sacrifices but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require. Follow us on 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. WATER WILL SOON be flowing from Lake Superior to the parched American Southwest. 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 . What goes into the cat-and-mouse game of forecasting Colorados avalanche risks? 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. Infrastructure is one of the few ways well turn things around to assure that theres some supply.. 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. 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. China, unlike the US, is unencumbered by NEPA, water rights and democratic processes in general. Million sued, and he says he expects a ruling this year. 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. By Brittney J. Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette. 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. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. 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. "People are spoiled in the United States. 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. 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. "To my mind, the overriding fatal flaw for large import schemes is the time required to become operational. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. I have dystopian nightmares aboutpipelines marching across the landscape, saidglobal water scarcity expert Jay Famiglietti. 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. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesn't always have enough water to spare. The snowbirds commonly stay here for at least six months. Yes. So come on out for the plastic Marilyn on our dashboard, and stay for the stupendous waste of water, electricity and clean air. People fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta's Elk Slough near Courtland, California, on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. Gavin Newsom reaffirming his support for the ambitious proposal. Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. Don't bother sending notices on conservation; they willbe ignored. 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 water pipelines from the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa connecting to the headwaters of the Colorado River at the Rocky Mountain National Park. Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. Talk about a job-creating infrastructure project, which would rivalthe tremendous civilengineering feats our country used to be noted for. "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 . What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? These canals and pipelines are . We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. 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.
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