Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. 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. Dothey pay extra for using our water? It boggles the mind. Water Pipeline: From Mississippi River To The West? - YouTube He said hes open to one but doesnt think its necessary. Would itbe expensive? 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. 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. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. Formal large-scale water importation proposals have existed in the United States since at least the 1960s, when an American company devised the North American Water and Power Alliance to redistribute Alaskan water across the continent using reservoirs and canals. In China, the massiveSouth-to-North Water Diversion Projectis the largest such project ever undertaken. 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. Reader support helps sustain our work. 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 . 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. 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. Is pumping Mississippi River water west a solution or pipe dream? She said extensive public education, aided by federal mandates and financial incentives, eventually led toa wholesale transition that saves millions of gallons of water. 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. The water would be drained via a 36 inch pipe already installed four miles west of Sugarloaf Mountain outside Marquette. 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. The sharing of water would greatly contribute to California being able to feed the nation. And biologists andenvironmental attorneys saidNew Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water. Has no one noticed how much hotter the desert is getting, not to mention the increase in fires in our area. So what are the solutions to the arid West's dilemma, as climate change heats up and California's State Water Project, along with Lake Mead and Lake Powell, shrivels due to reduced snowmelt and rainfall? The snowbirds commonly stay here for at least six months. 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. The idea's been dismissed for as long as it's. "This sounds outlandish, but we have a massive problem," Paffrath said. 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. Here's How. Conservation alternatives are less palatable than big infrastructure projects, but theyre also more achievable. 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 hypothetical Mississippi River pipeline, which gained new life last year amid devastating drought conditions, is a case in point. Answer (1 of 21): Interbasin transfer is something we try to avoid. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or dream? 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. 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. Absolutely not," said Meena Westford, executive director of Colorado River resource policy for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The massive river, with tributaries from Montanato Ohio, is a national artery for shipping goodsout to sea. Every day, we hear about water conservation, restrictions. 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. 2023 www.desertsun.com. Booming Utah metro wants to pipe in water from Lake Powell so it can Follow us on Famiglietti also said while oil companies are willing to spend millions because their product yields high profits per gallon, that's not the case with water, typically considered a public resource. Is California still in a drought? Recent storms fill many CA reservoirs Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. We have already introduced invasive species all over the continentzebra mussels, quagga mussels, grass carp, spiny water flea, lampreys, ru. Still, he admits the road hasnt always been easy, and that victory is far from guaranteed. Steps are being taken to address water issues in Buckeye. He said hes open to one but doesnt think its necessary. Do we have the political will? Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. The elephant in the room, according to Fort, is agriculture, which accounts for more than 80 percent of water withdrawals from the Colorado River. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. after the growth in California . and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. 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 ongoing drought in California has hit its fourth year. Who is going to come to the desert and use it? 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. Mississippi River to Colorado River Solar Powered Pipeline - Halfbakery Proposed interstate water pipelines to California - Wikipedia Yes. 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. Colorado River crisis: Can water be piped from Mississippi, Missouri? Senior citizens dont go to wave parks. 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. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but would require decades of construction and billions of dollars. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. To be talking about pipe dreams, when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. 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. Pipeline from Mississippi - Coyote Gulch 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. From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka): Hausler's idea is to bring water from the Mississippi just below its confluence with the Ohio River across Missouri and Kansas into Colorado. 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. Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. 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. 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. Western Water Woes - Is Big Infrastructure the Way to Go? You tellgolf courses how much water they can use, but one of thelargest wave basins in the world is acceptable? Pipeline debate at center of California carbon capture plans An additional analysis emerged a decade later when Roger Viadero, an environmental scientist and engineer at Western Illinois University, and his graduate students assessed proposals suggested in last summers viral editorials. YouTube, Follow us on Clouds of birds hundreds of species live in or travel through Louisianas rich Atchafalaya forests each year, said National Audubon Society Delta Conservation Director Erik Johnson. 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. The driver of the truck was not injured. That project, which also faces heavy headwinds from environmentalists, wouldcost an estimated $12 billion. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. According to DPS, the driver of the semi-truck lost control of the truck on the icy I-40 freeway near Williams, striking a DPS patrol car parked by the side of the highway. Historian Ted Steinberg said itsummed up "the sheer arrogance and imperial ambitions of the modern hydraulic West.". 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 . Proponents of these projects argue that they could stabilize western cities for decades to come, connecting populations with unclaimed water rights. Experts say those will require sacrifices but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require. 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. To be talking about pipe dreams when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. Can you solve drought by piping water across the country? - New York Times Then take it out of the southern tip of the aquifer in Southern Colorado. 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? States wish they wouldnt. The pipeline would help it tap another 86,000 acre-feet of . The Colorado River is drying up. But if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly. 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. Still, its physically possible. YouTube. So moving water that far away to supplement the ColoradoRiver, I don't think is viable. Who is Kevin Paffrath? Democrat recall candidate calls for a pipeline 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. Gavin Newsom if he's. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. pipeline, line of pipe equipped with pumps and valves and other control devices for moving liquids, gases, and slurries (fine particles suspended in liquid). "Mexico has said it didn't although there has been a recent change ingovernment.". The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations, bans large waterexportsoutside of the area. It's the lowest level since the lake was filled in the. Sharing Mississippi water with California would help feed America - Yahoo!

113 Military Code Treason, Toledo Blade Obituaries This Week, Articles W