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. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. Haul icebergs from the Arctic to a new southern California port. Moreover, we need water in our dams for. 10/4/2021. In China, the massiveSouth-to-North Water Diversion Projectis the largest such project ever undertaken. 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. 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. Flooding along the Mississippi River basin appears to have become more frequent in recent years, as has the [] Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. My state, your state. But Denver officials have expressed skepticism,because Missouri or Mississippi water isof inferior quality to pure mountain water. Others said the costs of an Arizona-Mexico desalination plant would also likely prove infeasible. More by The Associated Press, Got a story tip? Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. An earlier version of this story misidentified for which agency Jennifer Pitt was a technical adviser. 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. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. As part of our commitment to sustainability, in 2021 Grist moved its office headquarters to the Bullitt Center in Seattles vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood. 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. "Arizona really, really wants oceanfront," she chuckled. 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. 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. Hydrologic Unit Code 07110009. 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. "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. Follow us on 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. We have to conserve water, butnota ridiculous wave parkthat willprobably go bankrupt? Historian Ted Steinberg said itsummed up "the sheer arrogance and imperial ambitions of the modern hydraulic West.". But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will. General Manager Henry Martinez also warned that cutting water to Imperial Valley farmers and nearby Yuma County, Arizona, could lead to a food crisis as well as a water crisis. (Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis, July 11). 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. Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. 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. Plus, the federal report found the water would be of much lower quality than other western water sources. China, unlike the US, is unencumbered by NEPA, water rights and democratic processes in general. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. Reader support helps sustain our work. Gavin Newsom reaffirming his support for the ambitious proposal. Thats not to mention the housing development again, for the very wealthy with its own lagoon. Newsom said the state must capture 100 million metric tons of carbon each year by 2045 about a quarter of what the state now emits annually. WATER WILL SOON be flowing from Lake Superior to the parched American Southwest. The California water wars of the early twentieth century are summed up in a famous line from the 1974 film Chinatown: Either you bring the water to L.A., or you bring L.A. to the water. Nearly a hundred years have elapsed since the events the film dramatizes, but much of the West still approaches water the same way. The actual costs to build such a pipeline today would likely be orders of magnitude higher, thanks to inflation and inevitable construction snags. Water thieves abound in dry California. All rights reserved. Donate today tohelp keep Grists site and newsletters free. Donate today to keep our climate news free. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. 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. 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. She points to her earlyworkfor comparison. Drainage area 171,500 square miles . A recent edition of The Desert Sun had twoletters objectingto piping water from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River, and on to California. 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. 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. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesn't always have enough water to spare. 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. Senior citizens dont go to wave parks. 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. Here are some facts to put perspective to several of the. 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. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, prodded by members of Congressfrom western states, studied the massive proposal. These canals and pipelines are . 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. 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. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. Some plans call for a connection to. 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. Kaufman is the general manager of Leavenworth Water, which serves 50,000 people in a town that welcomed Lewis and Clark in 1804 during the duo's westward exploration. Snowpacks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains have swelled to more than 200 percent of their normal size, and snowfall across the rest of the Colorado River Basin is trending above average, too. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. The river's web, if some have their way, could become even larger. 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. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. An acre-foot is enough water to serve about two households for a year, so it could supply water to 150 million customers. He frames the pipeline as a complement to water-saving policies. Los Angeles-area water districts have implemented much of what Famiglietti mentioned. The trooper inside suffered minor injuries. 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. 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 . Dothey pay extra for using our water? One proposed solution to the Colorado River Basin's water scarcity crisis has come up again and again: large-scale river diversions, including pumping Mississippi River water to the parched West . The ongoing drought in California has hit its fourth year. But the idea hasnever completely died. 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 water will drain into the headwaters of the Colorado river. 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. 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. In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. Those will require sacrifices, no doubt but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require, experts said. Don't bother sending notices on conservation; they willbe ignored. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Arizona is among six states, that released a letter and a proposed model for how much Colorado River water they could potentially cut to stave off a collapse. An in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet to Larsons knowledge. To Larsons knowledge, an in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet. The pipeline will end in the Rocky Mountain National park. "Yes, a Superior-Green River pipeline seems unrealistic, even impossible at first glance," Huttner wrote for Minnesota Public Radio. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis. 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. Environmental writerMarc Reisner said the plan was one of "brutal magnificence" and "unprecedented destructiveness." People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. One benefit would be flood control for the Eastern USA . Stories of similar projects often share the same ending, from proposals in Iowa and Minnesota to those between Canada and the United States. 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 . While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. Officials imposed the state's first-ever water restrictions on cities and towns, and California farmers are drilling deeper and . California Gov. The water would be drained via a 36 inch pipe already installed four miles west of Sugarloaf Mountain outside Marquette. 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. My water, your water. 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. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid Westhave beenfloated for decades. As western states grew over the twentieth century, the federal government helped them build several massive water diversion projects that would hydrate their growing urban populations: The Central Arizona Project aqueduct brought water from the Colorado River to Phoenix, for instance, and the Big Thompson system piped water across the Colorado Rockies to Denver. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Tina Peters convicted of government obstruction charge, acquitted of obstructing a police officer, (720) 263-2338 Call, text, Signal or WhatsApp, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Famiglietti said as long as urban areas in the West don't persist in untrammeled growth, they have enough supply for the immediate future, with the ability to rip out lawns, capture stormwater runoff in local reservoirs, do municipal audits to fix leaks and other tools. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com or @janetwilson66 on Twitter. Savor that while your lawns are dying. 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. Still, its physically possible. Twitter, Follow us on For one, theres no longer enough unclaimed water to make most pipeline projects cost-effective. The delta was tricky for barge traffic and shipping to navigate. The 2012 study didn't discount either option but. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, Whats Working: How a Denver nonprofit is expanding the benefits of work. Why not begin a grand national infrastructure project of building a water pipeline from those flooded states to the Southwest? To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. 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.. No. Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. The state should do everything possible to push conservation, but thats not going to cure the issue, he told Grist. Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure dont need all that water. I have dystopian nightmares aboutpipelines marching across the landscape, saidglobal water scarcity expert Jay Famiglietti. continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but require decades of construction and billions of dollars. and planned for completion in 2050, it willdivert 44.8 billion cubic metersof water annually to major cities and agricultural and industrial centers in the parchednorth. Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. 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. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. Yahoo, Reddit and ceaseless headlines about a 22-year megadrought and killer flash floods, not to mention dead bodies showing up on Lake Meads newly exposed shoreline, have galvanized reader interest this summer. [1] 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. The federal Bureau of Reclamation has already looked at piping 600,000 acre-feet of water a year from either the Missouri or the Mississippi. Would itbe expensive? We've had relatively rich resources for so long,we've never really had to deal withthis before, andwe don't want to change.". 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. It's the lowest level since the lake was filled in the. Pipe water from the plentiful Great Lakes to deserted towns in the West like Phoenix and Las Vegas. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. 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. No. Take for instance the so-called Water Horse pipeline, a pet project of a Colorado investor and entrepreneur named Aaron Million. What if our droughts get worse? Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. Do we have the political will? The massive river, with tributaries from Montanato Ohio, is a national artery for shipping goodsout to sea. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. The snowbirds commonly stay here for at least six months. 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. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. ", Westford of Southern California's Metropolitan Water District agreed. ", But desert defenders pushed back. 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. A 45-mile, $16 billion tunnel that would mark California's largest water project in nearly 50 years took a step closer to reality this week, with Gov. 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. Makes me wonder how this got this far, whose interests are being served and who's benefiting. The mountains are green now but that could be harmful during wildfire season. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST 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. 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. A multi-state pipeline could easily require decades before it delivers a drop of water," said Michael Cohen, senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. 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. But if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly.