water pipeline from mississippi river to california water pipeline from mississippi river to california

Could a water pipeline from the Mississippi River to Arizona be a real solution? 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. 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. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. The . Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isnt working for snowed-in mountain towns, Letters to the Editor: Ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene? Answer (1 of 21): Interbasin transfer is something we try to avoid. The largest eastern river, the Mississippi, has about 30 times the average annual flow of the Colorado, and the Columbia has close to 10 times. I find it interesting that households have to watch how much water theyare usingfor washing clothes, wateringlawns, washing cars,etc. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. The delta was tricky for barge traffic and shipping to navigate. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. Arizona's legislature allocated$1 billion in its last session for water augmentation projectslikea possible desalination plant, and state officials are in discussions with Mexican officials about the idea, saidBuschatzke. 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. There are no easy fixes to a West that has grown and has allocated all of its water theres no silver bullet, she said. Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. 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 snowbirds commonly stay here for at least six months. This aerial photo of Davenport, Iowa, shows Mississippi River floodwaters in May 2019. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. 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 the loss of so much water from the. The Arizona Legislature wants the federal government to study the feasibility of constructing a pipeline . The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations, bans large waterexportsoutside of the area. This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. Their detractors counter that, in an era of permanent aridification driven by climate change, the only sustainable solution is not to bring in more water, but to consume less of it. 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. (Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis, July 11). The Associated Press Climate team contributed images and page design. But interest spans deeper than that. Instagram, Follow us on But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will. The actual costs to build such a pipeline today would likely be orders of magnitude higher, thanks to inflation and inevitable construction snags. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. Here are some facts to put perspective to several of the. 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. Nonetheless, Siefkes trans-basin pipeline proposal went viral, receiving nearly half a million views. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. 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. But interest spans deeper than that. Absolutely not," said Meena Westford, executive director of Colorado River resource policy for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. 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. Instagram, Follow us on 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. Their technical report, which hasnt been peer-reviewed, 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. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. 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. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. Let's be really clear here. 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 . Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. A Mississippi pipeline to Lake Powell would need to cut across four states, he and Johnson said, including hundreds of miles of wetlands in Louisiana and west Texas. The Nevada Legislature is considering a bill that, if passed, would require restaurants to only provide water upon customer request. 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. "Arizona really, really wants oceanfront," she chuckled. Follow us on It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. 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. 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. 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. An earlier version of this story misidentified for which agency Jennifer Pitt was a technical adviser. 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. The pipeline will end in the Rocky Mountain National park. 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. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. Do we have the political will? And there are several approved diversions that draw water from the Great Lakes. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. Just pump water a few miles from the Mississippi near Des Moines into the Ogallala aquifer. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. We are already in a severe drought. 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 massive river, with tributaries from Montanato Ohio, is a national artery for shipping goodsout to sea. 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. Opinion: California gave up on mandating COVID vaccines for schoolchildren. Among its provisions, the law granted the states water infrastructure finance authority to investigate the feasibility of potential out-of-state water import agreements. Stories of similar projects often share the same ending, from proposals in Iowa and Minnesota to those between Canada and the United States. The state is expected to lose 10% of its water over the next two decades, reports the . Parsons said theplanwould replenishthe upper Missouri and Mississippi Rivers during dry spells, increase hydropower along the Columbia Riverand stabilize the Great Lakes. The distance between Albuquerque, for example, and the Mississippi River perhaps the closest hypothetical starting point for such a pipeline is about 1,000 miles, crossing at least three. In southeastern California,officials at the Imperial Irrigation District, which is entitled toby far the largest share of Colorado River water, say any move to strip theirrights would result in legal challenges that could last years. 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. The trooper inside suffered minor injuries. An acre-foot is enough water to serve about two households for a year, so it could supply water to 150 million customers. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. The water will drain into the headwaters of the Colorado river. Pipelines usually consist of sections of pipe made of . Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. Others said the costs of an Arizona-Mexico desalination plant would also likely prove infeasible. 10/4/2021. So come on out for the plastic Marilyn on our dashboard, and stay for the stupendous waste of water, electricity and clean air. 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. 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. 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. By Brittney J. Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. Title: USGS Surface-Water Daily Data for the Nation URL: https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv? As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. 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. Runa giant hose from the Columbia River along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to refill Diamond Valley Reservoir. Hydrologic Unit Code 07110009. Million told Grist that hes secured partial funding for the project from multiple banks and the infrastructure company MasTec, but it remains unclear how much he would have to charge to make the project profitable. 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. 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. Nevertheless, Million hasnt given up, and hes currently working to secure permitting for the fourth iteration of the project. Whereas I understand water rights, but globalwarming has introduced new priorities. 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. Savor that while your lawns are dying. 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. The Mississippi used to flow through a delta full of bayous, shifting sad bars, And islets. Each year worsens our receipt of rain and snow. after the growth in California . More by The Associated Press, Got a story tip? Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. A drive up Interstate 5 shows how muchland has been fallowed due tolack of water. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. The pipeline would provide the Colorado River basin with 600,000 acre-feet of water annually, which could serve roughly a million single-family homes. 2023 www.desertsun.com. 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. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, Whats Working: How a Denver nonprofit is expanding the benefits of work. At comment sessions on Colorado's plan, he said, long-distance pipelines wereconstantly suggested by the public. Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California. But if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly.