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. Is California still in a drought? Recent storms fill many CA reservoirs "I'm an optimist," said Coffey, who said local conservation is key. Take that, Lake Mead. 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. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST Arizona Legislators Want to Ship Mississippi River - Planetizen 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. It is time to think outside the box of rain. And biologists andenvironmental attorneys saidNew Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water. Certainly not the surrounding communities. At comment sessions on Colorado's plan, he said, long-distance pipelines wereconstantly suggested by the public. 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. after the growth in California . Ive cowboyed enough in my life to know that you just got to stick to the trail, he said. 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. 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. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. 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. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants,. Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. An in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet to Larsons knowledge. Donate today to keep our climate news free. Do we have the political will? Asked what might be the requirements and constraints of a pipeline from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Gene Pawliksaid, Since (the Army Corps) has not done a formal study related to the use of pipelines to move water between watersheds, we cannot speculate on the details or cost of such projects.. 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. 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. He said hes open to one but doesnt think its necessary. 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. As part of our commitment to sustainability, in 2021 Grist moved its office headquarters to the Bullitt Center in Seattles vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood. The idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. 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. 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. Many sawSiefkes' idea and others like it as sheer theft by a region that needs to fix its own woes. 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 . Power from its hydroelectric dams would boost U.S. electricity supplies. 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. Arizona needs water. But a Mississippi pipeline is a pipe dream CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. The resulting fresh water would bepiped northto the thirsty state. 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?" Major projects to restore the coast and save brown pelicans and other endangered species are now underway, and Mississippi sediment delivery is at the heart of them. Donate today tohelp keep Grists site and newsletters free. We are already in a severe drought. Flooding along the Mississippi River basin appears to have become more frequent in recent years, as has the [] Leading environmental engineering firm to study alternative water By the way, none of this includes the incredible carbon footprints about to be stomped on the environment. 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. 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. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. Drop us a note at tips@coloradosun.com. Latitude 3853'06", Longitude 9010'51" NAD27. Theyre all such hypocrites. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. Opinion: How has American healthcare gone so wrong? It dawned on Million that Colorado had unclaimed rights to water from the Green, since the river was part of the Colorado River system, and he devised a plan to build a pipeline that would pump water around the Rockies to the city of Fort Collins, where he lives. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Experts say those will require sacrifices but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require. People fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta's Elk Slough near Courtland, California, on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. Instagram, Follow us on 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. The water would be drained via a 36 inch pipe already installed four miles west of Sugarloaf Mountain outside Marquette. We have already introduced invasive species all over the continentzebra mussels, quagga mussels, grass carp, spiny water flea, lampreys, ru. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. ", Westford of Southern California's Metropolitan Water District agreed. A water pipeline from the Mississippi River to the west? - Los Angeles 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. The massive river, with tributaries from Montanato Ohio, is a national artery for shipping goodsout to sea. 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. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. Moving water from the Mississippi River to west would require massive We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. Parsons said theplanwould replenishthe upper Missouri and Mississippi Rivers during dry spells, increase hydropower along the Columbia Riverand stabilize the Great Lakes. But Westford and her colleague Brad Coffey, water resources manager,said desalination is needed in the Golden State. 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. 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. "This sounds outlandish, but we have a massive problem," Paffrath said. 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. Some plans call for a connection to. Arizona and Nevada residents must curb their use of water from the Colorado River, and California could be next. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Booming Utah metro wants to pipe in water from Lake Powell so it can . But the loss of so much water from the. 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. Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. Hydrologic Unit Code 07110009. The idea of drinking even heavily treated liquid wastemay seem unpalatable, but Westfordthinks people will adapt. Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. Weve had a few blizzards along the way, and some gun battles, but it is what it is.. Instagram, Follow us on Who is going to come to the desert and use it? If we had a big pipeline from Lake Sakakawea, we wouldn't just dump it into Lake Powell. (Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis, July 11). and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . Can you solve drought by piping water across the country? - New York Times This latest version would curve up through the Wyoming flatlands and back down to Fort Collins, a distance of around 340 miles. She points to her earlyworkfor comparison. This would take 254 days to fill.. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? Plus, the federal report found the water would be of much lower quality than other western water sources. Last updated on: February 10, 2023, 10:54h. 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. Each year . Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. 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. But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid Westhave beenfloated for decades. Nonetheless, Siefkes trans-basin pipeline proposal went viral, receiving nearly half a million views. Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. The state is expected to lose 10% of its water over the next two decades, reports the . 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. 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. Letters to the Editor: Really, Californians? Another call for a water The 2012 study didn't discount either option but. The elephant in the room, according to Fort, is agriculture, which accounts for more than 80 percent of water withdrawals from the Colorado River. In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. Every day, we hear about water conservation, restrictions. 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. It's the lowest level since the lake was filled in the. 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. Sharing Mississippi River water with California would feed America He frames the pipeline as a complement to water-saving policies. pipeline, line of pipe equipped with pumps and valves and other control devices for moving liquids, gases, and slurries (fine particles suspended in liquid). Officials imposed the state's first-ever water restrictions on cities and towns, and California farmers are drilling deeper and . In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. 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. A multi-state pipeline could easily require decades before it delivers a drop of water," said Michael Cohen, senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. Savor that while your lawns are dying. "The engineering is feasible. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. The trooper inside suffered minor injuries. The Great Lakes Compact, signed by President George W. Bush in 2008,bans large waterexportsoutside of the areawithout the approval of all eight states bordering them andinput fromOntario and Quebec. 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. Too wacky? Moving water from flood to drought - Phys.org In China, the massiveSouth-to-North Water Diversion Projectis the largest such project ever undertaken. Heres how that affects Indigenous water rights, Salton Sea public health disaster gets a $250 million shot in the arm. Their technical report, which hasnt been peer-reviewed. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. after the growth in California . The state should do everything possible to push conservation, but thats not going to cure the issue, he told Grist. Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA Today'sClimate Point newsletter. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL While they didnt outright reject the concepts, the experts laid out multi-billion-dollar price tags, including ever-higher fuel and power costs to pump water up mountains or over other geographic obstacles. He said wastewater reuse by area agencies has already swelled from 0.20% in the 1980sto 12% of regional water supply. The main pipeline would span about 1,000 miles from Jackson, Miss., along the southern borders of Colorado and Utah to Lake Powell, at an elevation of about 3,700 feet. Senior citizens dont go to wave parks. California wants to build a $16 billion pipeline to draw water out of the Sacramento River Delta and down to the southern part of the state, but critics say the project would deprive Delta farmers of water and destroy local ecosystems. 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. Thats not to mention the housing development again, for the very wealthy with its own lagoon. 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. Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isnt working for snowed-in mountain towns, Letters to the Editor: Ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene? Makes me wonder how this got this far, whose interests are being served and who's benefiting. 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. All rights reserved. These canals and pipelines are . One benefit would be flood control for the Eastern USA . Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. 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 water expertssaid it would likely take at least 30 years to clear legal hurdles to such a plan. YouTube star and Democratic political novice Kevin Paffrath proposed the Mississippi River pipeline last week during a debate among candidates seeking to replace Gov. The bigger obstacles are fiscal, legal, environmentaland most of all, political. Engineers said the pipelineidea is technically feasible. Its largestdam would be 1,700 feet tall, more than twice the height of Hoover Dam. 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. Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California. Then take it out of the southern tip of the aquifer in Southern Colorado. Skelton: A pipeline to the Mississippi? Silly as the recall - Los The snowbirds commonly stay here for at least six months. Pipeline debate at center of California carbon capture plans The . 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. Buying land to secure water rights would also cost a chunk of cash, which leads to an even larger obstacle for such proposals: the legal and political hoops. ", But desert defenders pushed back. 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. When that happens, it wont be just tourists and recreational boaters who will suffer. Even if the sticker price werent so prohibitive, there are other obstacles. Los Angeles-area water districts have implemented much of what Famiglietti mentioned. 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. 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. Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure dont need all that water. Much of the sediment it was carrying was dropped in the slow moving water of the Delta. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. he said. How can we bring water from Mississippi river to west, Arizona - Quora But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or dream? 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. 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. 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. If you dont have enough of it, go find more. Arizonas main active management areas are in Maricopa, Pinal, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties, leaving much of rural Arizona water use unregulated. 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. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. 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.
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