water pipeline from mississippi river to california

"People are spoiled in the United States. 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. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST . (Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis, July 11). Much of the sediment it was carrying was dropped in the slow moving water of the Delta. 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. 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. "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 . As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. Absolutely. As a resident of Wisconsin, a state that borders the (Mississippi) river, let me say: This is never gonna happen, wrote Margaret Melville of Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. It would turn the Southwest into an oasis, and the Great Basin into productive farmland. Meanwhile, watershed states in the U.S., and even counties havetaken actionto preventsuch schemes. Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. To be talking about pipe dreams when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. No. Canadian water for California's drought? - High Country News In the 20 years since he first had the idea, Million has suffered a string of regulatory and legal defeats at the hands of state and federal agencies, becoming a kind of bogeyman for conservationists in the process. Arizona, for instance, has invested millions of dollars in wastewater recycling while other communities have paid to fix leaky pipes, making their water delivery systems more efficient. The trooper inside suffered minor injuries. Experts say theres a proverbial snowballs chance in August of most of theseschemes being implemented. 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. Similar ideas have been suggested about Great Lakes water. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isnt working for snowed-in mountain towns, Letters to the Editor: Ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene? 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. All rights reserved. Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. "This sounds outlandish, but we have a massive problem," Paffrath said. Arizona needs water. But a Mississippi pipeline is a pipe dream after the growth in California . Its largestdam would be 1,700 feet tall, more than twice the height of Hoover Dam. But pipelines and other big ideaswill always attract interest, hydrology experts said, because they falsely promise an innovative, easy way out. Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA Today'sClimate Point newsletter. I have dystopian nightmares aboutpipelines marching across the landscape, saidglobal water scarcity expert Jay Famiglietti. We have to conserve water, butnota ridiculous wave parkthat willprobably go bankrupt? No. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. 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. You couldbuild a pipeline from the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers. Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. 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. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. Twitter, Follow us on The total projected cost of the plan in 1975 was $100 billion or nearly $570billion in today's dollars,comparable to theInterstate Highway System. Drought Revives Mississippi River Pipe Dreams - The Waterways Journal 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. The idea's been dismissed for as long as it's. Could massive water pipelines solve the West's drought crisis? | Grist 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. 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? 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. Yes, it would be hugely expensive. Can A Pipeline Really Bring Drinking Water From Mississippi To The West? People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. 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 Arizona state legislature allocated seed money toward a study of a thousand-mile pipeline that would do exactly this last year, and the states top water official says hes spoken to officials in Kansas about participating in the project. Democrat recall candidate Kevin Paffrath wants filter systems | The 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. Opinion: California gave up on mandating COVID vaccines for schoolchildren. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); A nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. 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. "My son will never know what a six-gallon toilet looks like," she said. Politics are an even bigger obstacle for making multi-state pipelines a reality. Its one of dozens of letters the paperhas received proposing or vehemently opposing schemes to fix the crashing Colorado River system, which provides water to nearly 40 million people and farms in seven western states. This would take 254 days to fill.. The concepts fell into a few large categories: pipe Mississippi or Missouri River water to the eastern side of the Rockies or to Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, bring icebergs in. Conservation alternatives are less palatable than big infrastructure projects, but theyre also more achievable. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but require decades of construction and billions of dollars. The pipeline will end in the Rocky Mountain National park. Rescue the oceans from the pollution that flood waters pick up and dump into the ocean, creating dead zones. "The engineering is feasible. Latitude 3853'06", Longitude 9010'51" NAD27. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. The idea of drinking even heavily treated liquid wastemay seem unpalatable, but Westfordthinks people will adapt. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. Opinion: How has American healthcare gone so wrong? The idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. There are no easy fixes to a West that has grown and has allocated all of its water theres no silver bullet, she said. Water from these and other large rivers pour. But water expertssaid it would likely take at least 30 years to clear legal hurdles to such a plan. On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council agreed on a proposal to treat water and deliver it to the community for three years. He said wastewater reuse by area agencies has already swelled from 0.20% in the 1980sto 12% of regional water supply. She points to her earlyworkfor comparison. 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. Pipeline | Definition, History, Types, Uses, & Facts | Britannica 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. 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. Water Pipeline of America - Colorado-Mississippi Pipeline - Zamboanga The . Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients and invasive species. Senior citizens dont go to wave parks. 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. The sharing of water would greatly contribute to California being able to feed the nation. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. Lake Superior Water Headed to the Southwest - Word on the Street 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. 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. 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. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. To Larsons knowledge, an in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com or @janetwilson66 on Twitter. Certainly not the surrounding communities. 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. Answer (1 of 21): Interbasin transfer is something we try to avoid. Is pumping Mississippi River water west a solution or pipe dream? Why not begin a grand national infrastructure project of building a water pipeline from those flooded states to the Southwest? "I think that societally, we want to be more flexible. Pipe water from the plentiful Great Lakes to deserted towns in the West like Phoenix and Las Vegas. 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. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. 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. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Can drought-stricken CA get water from Midwest via pipeline? 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. The water would be drained via a 36 inch pipe already installed four miles west of Sugarloaf Mountain outside Marquette. In 1982,efforts were made to revive the plan by a Parsons company engineer, and the Lyndon Larouche movement supported itas recently as 2010. 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. 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. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis. By the way, none of this includes the incredible carbon footprints about to be stomped on the environment. 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. The state should do everything possible to push conservation, but thats not going to cure the issue, he told Grist. 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. Makes me wonder how this got this far, whose interests are being served and who's benefiting. The Colorado River is drying up. "I don't think that drought, especially in the era of climate change, is something we can engineer our way out of.". "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?" Facebook, Follow us on Million sued, and he says he expects a ruling this year. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. As the West bakes, Utah forges ahead with water pipeline Runa giant hose from the Columbia River along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to refill Diamond Valley Reservoir. These canals and pipelines are . All it does is cause flooding and massive tax expenditures to repair and strengthen dikes, wrote Siefkes.New Orleans has a problem with that much water anyway, so lets divert 250,000 gallons/secondto Lake Powell, which currently has a shortage of 5.5 trillion gallons. 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. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? ", Westford of Southern California's Metropolitan Water District agreed. 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. If a portion of the farmers in the region were to change crops or fallow their fields, the freed-up water could sustain growing cities. Why does California want to build a $16 billion water pipeline? In it, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Idaho Attorney General Ral Labrador contend that a new interpretation of a Clean Water Act rule is too vague, oversteps the bounds of federal authority and puts the liberties of states and private property owners at risk. The Associated Press Climate team contributed images and page design. The actual costs to build such a pipeline today would likely be orders of magnitude higher, thanks to inflation and inevitable construction snags. The basic idea is to take water from the Mississippi River, pump it a thousand miles west, and dump it into the overtaxed Colorado River, which provides water for millions of Arizona residents but has reached historically low levels as its reservoirs dry up. 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. Stories of similar projects often share the same ending, from proposals in Iowa and Minnesota to those between Canada and the United States. [1] 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. Coffey said the project isn't really a pipeline, but more "a bypass for an aging 60-year-old"system. Even smaller projects stand to be derailed by similar hiccups. Water Pipeline: From Mississippi River To The West? - YouTube A recent edition of The Desert Sun had twoletters objectingto piping water from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River, and on to California. Steps are being taken to address water issues in Buckeye. The hypothetical Mississippi River pipeline, which gained new life last year amid devastating drought conditions, is a case in point. 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. Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. "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 . It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. 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. A multi-state pipeline could easily require decades before it delivers a drop of water," said Michael Cohen, senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. "To my mind, the overriding fatal flaw for large import schemes is the time required to become operational. For him, thatincludessetting aside at leastportions of the so-called "Law of the River," a complicated, century-old set of legal agreements that guarantees farmers in Southern California the largest share of water. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants,. Could a water pipeline from the Mississippi River to Arizona be a real Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. Pitt, who was a technical adviser on Reclamation's2012 report,decried ceaselesspipeline proposals. She said extensive public education, aided by federal mandates and financial incentives, eventually led toa wholesale transition that saves millions of gallons of water. Famiglietti saidit's time for a national water policy, not to figure out where to lay down hundreds of pipesbut to look comprehensively at the intertwining of agriculture and the lion's share ofwater it uses. 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 . Gavin Newsom reaffirming his support for the ambitious proposal. 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. All that snow in Arizona is nice now but officials worry that it could create disastrous flooding and wildfire conditions. Why are they so hard to catch? Drought-Stricken West Looks to Mississippi River to Solve Water Woes Many sawSiefkes' idea and others like it as sheer theft by a region that needs to fix its own woes. 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. 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. In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. Pipeline from the Mississippi River to Colorado? - Coyote Gulch ", But desert defenders pushed back. These realities havent stopped the Wests would-be water barons from dreaming. 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. All rights reserved. Still, its physically possible. "Sometimes there is a propensity in areas like Louisiana or the Southwest, where we've had such success in our engineering marvels, to engineer our way out of everything," Newman said. Just pump water a few miles from the Mississippi near Des Moines into the Ogallala aquifer. Donate today tohelp keep Grists site and newsletters free. 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. 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. 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. California Gov. Is this a goo. Talk about a job-creating infrastructure project, which would rivalthe tremendous civilengineering feats our country used to be noted for. Is California still in a drought? Recent storms fill many CA reservoirs Once again, Arizona hopes to import out-of-state water in face of crisis Diverting the Missouri River to the West: 'Can' Does Not - HuffPost and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . Moreover, we need water in our dams for. The mountains are green now but that could be harmful during wildfire season. 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. About 60 percent of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. 00:00 00:00 An unknown error. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. 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.

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