water pipeline from mississippi river to california water pipeline from mississippi river to california

Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. 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. All rights reserved. Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. Pipelines usually consist of sections of pipe made of . 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. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, prodded by members of Congressfrom western states, studied the massive proposal. Stories of similar projects often share the same ending, from proposals in Iowa and Minnesota to those between Canada and the United States. 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. Engineers said the pipelineidea is technically feasible. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. 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. As zany as the ideas may sound, could anywork, and if so, what would be the costs? The total projected cost of the plan in 1975 was $100 billion or nearly $570billion in today's dollars,comparable to theInterstate Highway System. Flooding along the Mississippi River basin appears to have become more frequent in recent years, as has the [] 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. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. Don't bother sending notices on conservation; they willbe ignored. 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. 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. Let's be really clear here. 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. Last updated on: February 10, 2023, 10:54h. She said extensive public education, aided by federal mandates and financial incentives, eventually led toa wholesale transition that saves millions of gallons of water. 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. of Engineers has turned back official requests for more water from the Missouri River to alleviate shortages on the Mississippi. 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. I have dystopian nightmares aboutpipelines marching across the landscape, saidglobal water scarcity expert Jay Famiglietti. Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isnt working for snowed-in mountain towns, Letters to the Editor: Ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene? The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations. 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. A multi-state pipeline could easily require decades before it delivers a drop of water," said Michael Cohen, senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. 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. The water will drain into the headwaters of the Colorado river. The . 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. WATER WILL SOON be flowing from Lake Superior to the parched American Southwest. 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. People fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta's Elk Slough near Courtland, California, on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. All rights reserved. It is time to think outside the box of rain. The sharing of water would greatly contribute to California being able to feed the nation. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. Dothey pay extra for using our water? Meanwhile, watershed states in the U.S., and even counties havetaken actionto preventsuch schemes. pipeline, line of pipe equipped with pumps and valves and other control devices for moving liquids, gases, and slurries (fine particles suspended in liquid). 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. ", Westford of Southern California's Metropolitan Water District agreed. The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. Yes. 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. ", But desert defenders pushed back. Plus, the federal report found the water would be of much lower quality than other western water sources. Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. 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. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. "I started withtoilets, I was the toilet queen of L.A.," said Westford. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid Westhave beenfloated for decades. Available data for this site Madison County, Illinois. Absolutely. Water use has gone down 40% per capita in recent years, said Coffey. 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. Pitt, who was a technical adviser on Reclamation's2012 report,decried ceaselesspipeline proposals. A multi-state compact already prohibits any sale of water from the Great Lakes unless all bordering states agree to it, and its almost certain that Mississippi River states would pass laws restricting water diversions, or file lawsuits against western states, if the project went forward. Still, its physically possible. You could do it.". 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. Heproposed usingnuclear explosionsto excavate the system's trenches and underground water storage reservoirs. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. 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. 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. 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 bigger obstacles are fiscal, legal, environmentaland most of all, political. 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. Reader support helps sustain our work. No. She points to her earlyworkfor comparison. 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. Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. In China, the massiveSouth-to-North Water Diversion Projectis the largest such project ever undertaken. 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. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. And, here in the land of the midnight 90-degree temperatures, we are building our very own ice hockey rink, because there is more than enough electricity to freeze that body of water and keep the arena cold enough to keep the ice from melting. The state is expected to lose 10% of its water over the next two decades, reports the . 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 . 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. It willtake liquid sewage, treat it, and either percolate it back into area groundwater, or, if California law is changed,pipe itto water tanks across the basin. In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. The idea is as old and dusty as the desert Southwest: Pipe abundant Great Lakes water to parched cities out West, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas. The actual costs to build such a pipeline today would likely be orders of magnitude higher, thanks to inflation and inevitable construction snags. 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. 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. 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 don't think that drought, especially in the era of climate change, is something we can engineer our way out of.". 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. 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. Title: USGS Surface-Water Daily Data for the Nation URL: https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv? 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. Siphon off a big portion, and youd be swapping oneecological catastrophe for another, said Audubons Johnson. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. The Western U.S. is experiencing its driest period in more than a thousand years, according to scientists from UCLA and Columbia University. 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. We are already in a severe drought. The idea of drinking even heavily treated liquid wastemay seem unpalatable, but Westfordthinks people will adapt. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. Runa giant hose from the Columbia River along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to refill Diamond Valley Reservoir. The California water wars of the early twentieth century are summed up in a famous line from the 1974 film Chinatown: Either you bring the water to L.A., or you bring L.A. to the water. Nearly a hundred years have elapsed since the events the film dramatizes, but much of the West still approaches water the same way. He said hes open to one but doesnt think its necessary. In 1982,efforts were made to revive the plan by a Parsons company engineer, and the Lyndon Larouche movement supported itas recently as 2010. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. Arizona and Nevada residents must curb their use of water from the Colorado River, and California could be next. 2023 www.desertsun.com. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. 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. I find it interesting that households have to watch how much water theyare usingfor washing clothes, wateringlawns, washing cars,etc. 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. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. The river's web, if some have their way, could become even larger. He frames the pipeline as a complement to water-saving policies. Why it's a longshot: First, to get across the Continental Divide and into the Colorado River, you'd need an uphill pipeline about 1,000 miles long, which is longer than any other drinking water . 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. Tribes in the Colorado River Basin are fighting for their water. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), FILE - Dredge Jadwin, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging vessel, powers south down the Mississippi River Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022, past Commerce, Mo. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. Rescue the oceans from the pollution that flood waters pick up and dump into the ocean, creating dead zones. "This sounds outlandish, but we have a massive problem," Paffrath said. This would take 254 days to fill.. Well, kind of, Letters to the Editor: Shasta County dumps Dominion voting machines at its own peril, Editorial: Bay Area making climate change history by phasing out sales of gas furnaces and water heaters, Column: Mike Lindell is helping a California county dump voting machines. Twitter, Follow us on 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. The elephant in the room, according to Fort, is agriculture, which accounts for more than 80 percent of water withdrawals from the Colorado River. "Mexico has said it didn't although there has been a recent change ingovernment.". Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. The driver of the truck was not injured. The pipeline would help it tap another 86,000 acre-feet of . "People are spoiled in the United States. Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure dont need all that water. A Canadian entrepreneur's plan published in 1991 diverted water from eastern British Columbia to the Columbia River, then envisioned a 300-mile pipeline from the river through Oregon to a reservoir near Alturas, California. When that happens, it wont be just tourists and recreational boaters who will suffer. 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. Follow us on But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. Yahoo, Reddit and ceaseless headlines about a 22-year megadrought and killer flash floods, not to mention dead bodies showing up on Lake Meads newly exposed shoreline, have galvanized reader interest this summer. 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. Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. 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. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. Drop us a note at tips@coloradosun.com. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. 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. Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. 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. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. Each year worsens our receipt of rain and snow. 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. The most obvious problem with this proposal is its mind-boggling cost. 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. Here's How. Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. 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. "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. As part of our commitment to sustainability, in 2021 Grist moved its office headquarters to the Bullitt Center in Seattles vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood. 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. China, unlike the US, is unencumbered by NEPA, water rights and democratic processes in general. The lawsuit, originally filed in southern Texas' federal courts Jan. 18, was amended to include Idaho on Monday. 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. YouTube, Follow us on 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. Even at its cheapest, the project would cost about twice as much per acre-foot of water delivered than other solutions like water conservation and reuse. Who is going to come to the desert and use it? 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. In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. An in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet to Larsons knowledge. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. 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. Even smaller projects stand to be derailed by similar hiccups. The Associated Press Climate team contributed images and page design. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. But the idea hasnever completely died. At comment sessions on Colorado's plan, he said, long-distance pipelines wereconstantly suggested by the public. 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. 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. Design and build by Upstatement. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. Has no one noticed how much hotter the desert is getting, not to mention the increase in fires in our area. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. Newsom said the state must capture 100 million metric tons of carbon each year by 2045 about a quarter of what the state now emits annually. On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council agreed on a proposal to treat water and deliver it to the community for three years. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. Then take it out of the southern tip of the aquifer in Southern Colorado. 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. 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. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com 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 . Much of the sediment it was carrying was dropped in the slow moving water of the Delta. 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. 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. Each year . But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. Take that, Lake Mead. Why are they so hard to catch? 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. Environmental writerMarc Reisner said the plan was one of "brutal magnificence" and "unprecedented destructiveness." The resulting fresh water would bepiped northto the thirsty state. 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.