Follow us on Reader support helps sustain our work. The mountains are green now but that could be harmful during wildfire season. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This story is part of the Grist seriesParched, an in-depth look at how climate change-fueled drought is reshaping communities, economies, and ecosystems. The river's web, if some have their way, could become even larger. The 800-mile system of pipelines, ditches and reservoirs would cost an estimated $23 billion and could provide 1 million acre-feet of water a year to Colorado. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Other legal constraints include the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Protection Act and variousstate environmental laws, said Brent Newman, senior policy director for the National Audubon Society's Delta state programs. Each year . It's the lowest level since the lake was filled in the. The Southern Delivery System in the nearby Arkansas River Basin pipes water from Pueblo County more than 60 miles north to Colorado Springs, Fountain and Security. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. "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. So moving water that far away to supplement the ColoradoRiver, I don't think is viable. 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. One method for simulating streamflow and base flow, random forest (RF) models, was developed from the data at gaged sites and, in turn, was . Twitter, Follow us on Then take it out of the southern tip of the aquifer in Southern Colorado. Meanwhile, watershed states in the U.S., and even counties havetaken actionto preventsuch schemes. 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. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST . Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. A federal report from a decade ago pegged an optimistic cost estimate for a similar pipeline at $14 billion and said the project would take 30 years to build; a Colorado rancher who championed the idea around the same time, meanwhile, estimated its costs at $23 billion. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST Why are they so hard to catch? I find it interesting that households have to watch how much water theyare usingfor washing clothes, wateringlawns, washing cars,etc. 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. Engineers said the pipelineidea is technically feasible. 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. 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. 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. But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA Today'sClimate Point newsletter. Let's be really clear here. 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. 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. "Mexico has said it didn't although there has been a recent change ingovernment.". Grab hydrogen and oxygen from the air and make artificialrain. Some plans call for a connection to. 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. 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. Water from these and other large rivers pour. Ive cowboyed enough in my life to know that you just got to stick to the trail, he said. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. Flooding along the Mississippi River basin appears to have become more frequent in recent years, as has the [] Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. Makes me wonder how this got this far, whose interests are being served and who's benefiting. Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California. 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. 2023 www.desertsun.com. YouTube, Follow us on 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. "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. 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. 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. 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. 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. . There are no easy fixes to a West that has grown and has allocated all of its water theres no silver bullet, she said. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. Historian Ted Steinberg said itsummed up "the sheer arrogance and imperial ambitions of the modern hydraulic West.". Politics are an even bigger obstacle to making multi-state pipelines a reality. Releasing more water downstream would come at the expense of upstream users . Politics are an even bigger obstacle for making multi-state pipelines a reality. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but would require decades of construction and billions of dollars. China, unlike the US, is unencumbered by NEPA, water rights and democratic processes in general. Were doing everything we can to minimize impacts, maximize benefits, and this project has a lot of benevolence associated with it. In his vision of the Wests future, urban growth will necessitate more big infrastructure projects like his. When that happens, it wont be just tourists and recreational boaters who will suffer. He said hes open to one but doesnt think its necessary. Inspired by Mao Zedong, who in 1952 observed, "The south has plenty of water and the north lacks it, so if possible why not borrow some?" 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. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants,. 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. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. Just pump water a few miles from the Mississippi near Des Moines into the Ogallala aquifer. Do they thank us for using our water? Proponents of these projects argue that they could stabilize western cities for decades to come, connecting populations with unclaimed water rights. 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 most obvious problem with this proposal is its mind-boggling cost. Siphon off a big portion, and youd be swapping oneecological catastrophe for another, said Audubons Johnson. And biologists andenvironmental attorneys saidNew Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesnt always have enough water to spare. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis. 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. 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. Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. In China, the massiveSouth-to-North Water Diversion Projectis the largest such project ever undertaken. Whereas I understand water rights, but globalwarming has introduced new priorities. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, Whats Working: How a Denver nonprofit is expanding the benefits of work. Last updated on: February 10, 2023, 10:54h. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. 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. Nevertheless, Million hasnt given up, and hes currently working to secure permitting for the fourth iteration of the project. Even if the sticker price werent so prohibitive, there are other obstacles. 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. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. . 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. Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. Is this a goo. No, lets talk about her, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, 15 arrested across L.A. County in crackdown on fraudulent benefit cards, Calmes: Heres what we should do about Marjorie Taylor Greene, Column: Did the DOJ just say Donald Trump can be held accountable for Jan. 6? Pitt, who was a technical adviser on Reclamation's2012 report,decried ceaselesspipeline proposals. The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. Thats not to mention the housing development again, for the very wealthy with its own lagoon. 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. 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. 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. 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. Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. PROVISIONAL DATA SUBJECT TO REVISION. Infrastructure is one of the few ways well turn things around to assure that theres some supply.. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. 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. Why not begin a grand national infrastructure project of building a water pipeline from those flooded states to the Southwest? One benefit would be flood control for the Eastern USA . He said the most pragmatic approach would only pump Midwest water to the metro Denver area, to substitute forimports to the Front Range on the east side of the Rockies, avoiding "staggering" costs to pump water over the Continental Divide. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. The . John Neely ofPalm Desert responded: "All of these river cities who refuse to give us their water can stop snowbirding to the desert to use our water. Million sued, and he says he expects a ruling this year. 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. 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. Conservation alternatives are less palatable than big infrastructure projects, but theyre also more achievable. after the growth in California . 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, a professor of water law at Arizona State University. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. For as long as this idea has been proposed. Answer (1 of 21): Interbasin transfer is something we try to avoid. pipeline, line of pipe equipped with pumps and valves and other control devices for moving liquids, gases, and slurries (fine particles suspended in liquid). Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. [1] 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. These realities havent stopped the Wests would-be water barons from dreaming. 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. Theyre all such hypocrites. Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. 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. Absolutely not," said Meena Westford, executive director of Colorado River resource policy for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Still, its physically possible. 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. And there are several approved diversions that draw water from the Great Lakes. Arizonas main active management areas are in Maricopa, Pinal, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties, leaving much of rural Arizona water use unregulated. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. Local hurdles include endangered species protections, wetlands protections, drinking water supply considerations and interstate shipping protections. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com or @janetwilson66 on Twitter. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. And several approved diversions draw water from the Great Lakes. Gavin Newsom reaffirming his support for the ambitious proposal. 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. 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. All that snow in Arizona is nice now but officials worry that it could create disastrous flooding and wildfire conditions. YouTube. But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. "I'm an optimist," said Coffey, who said local conservation is key. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. For one, theres no longer enough unclaimed water to make most pipeline projects cost-effective. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. Drop us a note at tips@coloradosun.com. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. Weve had a few blizzards along the way, and some gun battles, but it is what it is.. 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. The pipeline will end in the Rocky Mountain National park. 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. The trooper inside suffered minor injuries. But interest spans deeper than that. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesnt always have enough water to spare. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . 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 . The state should do everything possible to push conservation, but thats not going to cure the issue, he told Grist. 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. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. 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. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Yes, it would be hugely expensive. All rights reserved. To be talking about pipe dreams when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. All rights reserved. Here's How. The elephant in the room, according to Fort, is agriculture, which accounts for more than 80 percent of water withdrawals from the Colorado River. "My son will never know what a six-gallon toilet looks like," she said. 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. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. 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. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. YouTube star and Democratic political novice Kevin Paffrath proposed the Mississippi River pipeline last week during a debate among candidates seeking to replace Gov. 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. ", But desert defenders pushed back. To the editor: I'd like to ask if the reader from Chatsworth calling for the construction of a water pipeline from the Mississippi River to Colorado River reservoirs has ever been to . 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. In 1964, a California engineering company proposed diverting flows from the Yukon and Mackenzie River watersheds, shared by Canada and the U.S., all the way to southern California and into Mexico. "This sounds outlandish, but we have a massive problem," Paffrath said. Gavin Newsom if he's. 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. Similar ideas have been suggested about Great Lakes water. 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. Stop letting excess water flow out to sea. Developed in 1964 by engineer Ralph Parsons and his Pasadena-basedParsons Corporation,the plan would provide 75million acre-feet of water to arid areas inCanada, the United States and Mexico. 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. A pipeline to the Mississippi River Perhaps the biggest achievement Paffrath said he would accomplish if elected governor would be to solve California's water crisis by building a. This latest version would curve up through the Wyoming flatlands and back down to Fort Collins, a distance of around 340 miles. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. You couldbuild a pipeline from the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers. 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? But pipelines and other big ideaswill always attract interest, hydrology experts said, because they falsely promise an innovative, easy way out. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. As politicians across the West confront the consequences of the climate-fueled Millennium Drought, many of them are heeding the words of Chinatown and trying to bring in outside water through massive capital projects. continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. 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. Those will require sacrifices, no doubt but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require, experts said. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. "The engineering is feasible. "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. The sharing of water would greatly contribute to California being able to feed the nation. You should worry, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, Elliott: Kings use their heads over hearts in trading Jonathan Quick, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids.

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