water pipeline from mississippi river to california

Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. 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. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. A multi-state pipeline could easily require decades before it delivers a drop of water," said Michael Cohen, senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. Proposed interstate water pipelines to California - Wikipedia Senior citizens dont go to wave parks. 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. No. Gavin Newsom if he's. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. "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 . 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. We've had relatively rich resources for so long,we've never really had to deal withthis before, andwe don't want to change.". It boggles the mind. Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. 2023 www.desertsun.com. The Western U.S. is experiencing its driest period in more than a thousand years, according to scientists from UCLA and Columbia University. But the idea hasnever completely died. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. 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. The idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. 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. "Should we move the water to where the food is grown, or is it maybe time to think about moving the food production to the water?" "The 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 zany as the ideas may sound, could anywork, and if so, what would be the costs? Experts say theres a proverbial snowballs chance in August of most of theseschemes being implemented. 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. The Abandoned Plan That Could Have Saved America From Drought The resulting fresh water would bepiped northto the thirsty state. All rights reserved. In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. Latitude 3853'06", Longitude 9010'51" NAD27. Not mentioned was the great grand-daddy of all schemes for re-allocating water, known as the North American Water and Power Authority Plan. Shipping Snow: Could Eastern Water Ease Western Drought? Those will require sacrifices, no doubt but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require, experts said. The water will drain into the headwaters of the Colorado river. 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. Conservation alternatives are less palatable than big infrastructure projects, but theyre also more achievable. 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. 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. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. 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. Many sawSiefkes' idea and others like it as sheer theft by a region that needs to fix its own woes. The Colorado River is drying up. "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 . 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. 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. after the growth in California . Sharing Mississippi water with California would help feed America - Yahoo! 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. But interest spans deeper than that. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. Great Lakes water piped to Southwest 'our future,' says NASA scientist The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. Opinion: California gave up on mandating COVID vaccines for schoolchildren. Politics are an even bigger obstacle for making multi-state pipelines a reality. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. Among its provisions, the law granted the states water infrastructure finance authority to investigate the feasibility of potential out-of-state water import agreements. (Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis, July 11). The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. 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. The . Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. 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. But it's doable. And biologists andenvironmental attorneys saidNew Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water. Anyone who thinks we can drain the aquifer and survive is grossly misinformed. "Nebraska wants to build a canal to pull water from the SouthPlatte River in Colorado, and downstream, Colorado wants to take water from the Missouri River and pull it back across Nebraska. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. It's the lowest level since the lake was filled in the. 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. Steps are being taken to address water issues in Buckeye. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Wildfire, flooding concerns after massive snowfall in Arizona, Customers will have to ask for water at Nevada restaurants if bill passes, Snow causes semi truck to crash into Arizona DPS Trooper SUV near Williams, A showdown over Colorado River water is setting the stage for a high-stakes legal battle, In Arizona and other western states, pressure to count water lost to evaporation, While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, Arizona state legislature passed a measure in 2021, RELATED: Phoenix city officials celebrate final pipe installation in the Drought Pipeline Project, the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken within the Colorado River Basin. How can we bring water from Mississippi river to west, Arizona - Quora Hydrologic Unit Code 07110009. "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 . It is time to think outside the box of rain. To be talking about pipe dreams when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. The Colorado Sun is a journalist-owned, award-winning news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state our community can better understand itself. Follow us on 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. Democrat recall candidate Kevin Paffrath wants filter systems | The 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. Once again, Arizona hopes to import out-of-state water in face of crisis This aerial photo of Davenport, Iowa, shows Mississippi River floodwaters in May 2019. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. All rights reserved. Stories of similar projects often share the same ending, from proposals in Iowa and Minnesota to those between Canada and the United States. You tellgolf courses how much water they can use, but one of thelargest wave basins in the world is acceptable? The state is expected to lose 10% of its water over the next two decades, reports the . Pipeline from Mississippi - Coyote Gulch Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. 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.. 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. "I'm an optimist," said Coffey, who said local conservation is key. Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. But interest spans deeper than that. 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. 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. Pitt, who was a technical adviser on Reclamation's2012 report,decried ceaselesspipeline proposals. They also concluded environmental and permitting reviews would take decades. "Yes, a Superior-Green River pipeline seems unrealistic, even impossible at first glance," Huttner wrote for Minnesota Public Radio. Still, its physically possible. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations. Let's be really clear here. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but would require decades of construction and billions of dollars. 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. Here's How. 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. To the editor: With the threat of brownouts and over-stressed power grids, dwindling water resources in California and the call to reduce consumption by 15%, I want to point out we are not all in this together. 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. 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. 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.. Snowpacks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains have swelled to more than 200 percent of their normal size, and snowfall across the rest of the Colorado River Basin is trending above average, too. 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. 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. 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. Do we have the political will? 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. . 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. 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. 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. 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 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. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. The elephant in the room, according to Fort, is agriculture, which accounts for more than 80 percent of water withdrawals from the Colorado River. Colorado River crisis: Can water be piped from Mississippi, Missouri? and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . Is California still in a drought? Recent storms fill many CA reservoirs The Colorado River's 1922 compact allocated about 23% of the Upper Basin's water to Utah, and the state uses about 72% of that water. 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. Can drought-stricken CA get water from Midwest via pipeline? An earlier version of this story misidentified for which agency Jennifer Pitt was a technical adviser. 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. 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. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. 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. Power from its hydroelectric dams would boost U.S. electricity supplies. [1] Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. 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. Additionally, building large infrastructure projects in general has become more difficult, in part thanks to reforms like the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires that detailed environmental impact statements be produced and evaluated for large new infrastructure projects. Yes, it would be hugely expensive. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST 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.

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