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

"Recently I have noticed several letters to the editor in your publication that promoted taking water from the Mississippi River or the Great Lakes and diverting it to California via pipeline or . The river's web, if some have their way, could become even larger. The Western U.S. is experiencing its driest period in more than a thousand years, according to scientists from UCLA and Columbia University. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. Similar ideas have been suggested about Great Lakes water. 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. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. 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. China, unlike the US, is unencumbered by NEPA, water rights and democratic processes in general. Tribes in the Colorado River Basin are fighting for their water. 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. 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. A multi-state pipeline could easily require decades before it delivers a drop of water," said Michael Cohen, senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com 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. Ultimately the rising environmental movement squelched it the project woulddestroyvast wildlife habitats in Canada and the American West,submergewild rivers in Idaho and Montana,and requirethe relocation of hundreds of thousands of people. The bigger obstacles are fiscal, legal, environmentaland most of all, political. 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. 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. All rights reserved. But pipelines and other big ideaswill always attract interest, hydrology experts said, because they falsely promise an innovative, easy way out. The . 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. 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. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. 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. 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. 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. "Yes, a Superior-Green River pipeline seems unrealistic, even impossible at first glance," Huttner wrote for Minnesota Public Radio. To the editor: The states near the Gulf of Mexico are often flooded with too much water, while the Southwest is suffering a long-term drought. 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. Facebook, Follow us on "I'm an optimist," said Coffey, who said local conservation is key. 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? Weve had a few blizzards along the way, and some gun battles, but it is what it is.. The 2012 study didn't discount either option but. 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. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. Butbig water infrastructure projects aren't just of interest to the general public. PROVISIONAL DATA SUBJECT TO REVISION. 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. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. 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. The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. She points to her earlyworkfor comparison. Reader support helps sustain our work. It's the lowest level since the lake was filled in the. Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isnt working for snowed-in mountain towns, Letters to the Editor: Ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene? Opinion: How has American healthcare gone so wrong? "Mexico has said it didn't although there has been a recent change ingovernment.". 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. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will. Siphon off a big portion, and youd be swapping oneecological catastrophe for another, said Audubons Johnson. Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California. 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? Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. Physically, some could be achieved. "People are spoiled in the United States. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants,. 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. Engineers said the pipelineidea is technically feasible. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. The resulting fresh water would bepiped northto the thirsty state. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. All rights reserved. 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. "I think that societally, we want to be more flexible. Heres how that affects Indigenous water rights, Salton Sea public health disaster gets a $250 million shot in the arm. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . And several approved diversions draw water from the Great Lakes. 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 idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. One method for simulating streamflow and base flow, random forest (RF) models, was developed from the data at gaged sites and, in turn, was . Moreover, we need water in our dams for. The California Aqueduct carries about 13,000 cubic feet per second through the Central Valley; the Colorado River atLees Ferry runs about 7,000 to 14,000 cfs; the Mississippi at Vicksburg varies from 400,000 to 1.2 million cfs. Since about 1983, Lake Mead has dropped in volume from full capacity at. Who is going to come to the desert and use it? 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. [1] About 60 percent of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. 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. Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. A man from Minnesota wrote to the Palm Springs Desert Sun earlier this month and expressed similar sentiments, warning, If California comes for Midwest water, we have plenty of dynamite.. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. 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. John Kaufman, the man who proposed the Missouri River pipeline, wants to see the artificial boundaries expand. Twitter, Follow us on California Gov. Drainage area 171,500 square miles . 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. My state, your state. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. I find it interesting that households have to watch how much water theyare usingfor washing clothes, wateringlawns, washing cars,etc. The delta was tricky for barge traffic and shipping to navigate. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. 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. Design and build by Upstatement. 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.. Two hundred miles north of New Orleans, in the heart of swampy Cajun country, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1963 cut a rogue arm of the Mississippi River in half with giant levees to keep the main river intact and flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. 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. Follow us on The massive river, with tributaries from Montanato Ohio, is a national artery for shipping goodsout to sea. 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. For one, theres no longer enough unclaimed water to make most pipeline projects cost-effective. Facebook, Follow us on Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. 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. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients and invasive species. Experts say theres a proverbial snowballs chance in August of most of theseschemes being implemented. The pipeline would help it tap another 86,000 acre-feet of . As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. 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. 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. Don't bother sending notices on conservation; they willbe ignored. At comment sessions on Colorado's plan, he said, long-distance pipelines wereconstantly suggested by the public. Absolutely not," said Meena Westford, executive director of Colorado River resource policy for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. 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. 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. Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. By Brittney J. Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette. Were not looking for the last dollar out of this project, he told me. 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 Mississippi used to flow through a delta full of bayous, shifting sad bars, And islets. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. Such major infrastructure is an absolute necessity, said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, who said he represents the governor on all things Colorado River.. YouTube. Proponents of these projects argue that they could stabilize western cities for decades to come, connecting populations with unclaimed water rights. 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. 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. Thats not to mention the housing development again, for the very wealthy with its own lagoon. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. 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. So moving water that far away to supplement the ColoradoRiver, I don't think is viable. 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. "My son will never know what a six-gallon toilet looks like," she said. The project entails the construction of thousands of miles of pipelines and canals, 427 water treatment facilities, countless pumping facilities, and the displacement of 300,000 residents. 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. 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. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesn't always have enough water to spare. 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. In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. Even if the sticker price werent so prohibitive, there are other obstacles. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. We've had relatively rich resources for so long,we've never really had to deal withthis before, andwe don't want to change.". 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. 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. Coffey said the project isn't really a pipeline, but more "a bypass for an aging 60-year-old"system. . Politics are an even bigger obstacle to making multi-state pipelines a reality. Senior citizens dont go to wave parks. Steps are being taken to address water issues in Buckeye. The pipeline will end in the Rocky Mountain National park. What if our droughts get worse? 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. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. 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. He said a major wastewater reuse project that MWD plans to implement by 2032 could ultimately yield up 150 million gallons of potable water a day from treated waste. 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. We are already in a severe drought. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. 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. This would take 254 days to fill.. In China, the massiveSouth-to-North Water Diversion Projectis the largest such project ever undertaken. The sharing of water would greatly contribute to California being able to feed the nation. 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. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. 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 . The idea of drinking even heavily treated liquid wastemay seem unpalatable, but Westfordthinks people will adapt. An acre-foot is enough water to serve about two households for a year, so it could supply water to 150 million customers. We want to have more sustainable infrastructure. Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. "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. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. To Larsons knowledge, an in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet. 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 . Famiglietti saidit's time for a national water policy, not to figure out where to lay down hundreds of pipesbut to look comprehensively at the intertwining of agriculture and the lion's share ofwater it uses. 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. 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. 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. 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. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, Whats Working: How a Denver nonprofit is expanding the benefits of work. Wildfire, flooding concerns after massive snowfall in Arizona, Customers will have to ask for water at Nevada restaurants if bill passes, Snow causes semi truck to crash into Arizona DPS Trooper SUV near Williams, A showdown over Colorado River water is setting the stage for a high-stakes legal battle, In Arizona and other western states, pressure to count water lost to evaporation, While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, Arizona state legislature passed a measure in 2021, RELATED: Phoenix city officials celebrate final pipe installation in the Drought Pipeline Project, the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken within the Colorado River Basin. If a portion of the farmers in the region were to change crops or fallow their fields, the freed-up water could sustain growing cities. The water will drain into the headwaters of the Colorado river. Either way, most of these projects stand little chance of becoming reality theyre ideas from a bygone era, one that has more in common with the world of Chinatown than the parched west of the present. 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. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. 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. "This sounds outlandish, but we have a massive problem," Paffrath said. Each year worsens our receipt of rain and snow. "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.