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. Stories of similar projects often share the same ending, from proposals in Iowa and Minnesota to those between Canada and the United States. Buying land to secure water rights would cost a chunk of cash, too, which leads to an even larger obstacle for such proposals: the legal and political hoops. Experts say theres a proverbial snowballs chance in August of most of theseschemes being implemented. Still, its physically possible. As part of our commitment to sustainability, in 2021 Grist moved its office headquarters to the Bullitt Center in Seattles vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood. Title: USGS Surface-Water Daily Data for the Nation URL: https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv? To Larsons knowledge, an in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet. All rights reserved. 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. But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will. You tellgolf courses how much water they can use, but one of thelargest wave basins in the world is acceptable? The list of projects that run on similarly magical thinking goes on: Utah wants to build a pipeline of its own from Lake Powell to the fast-growing city of St. George, but Lake Powell has almost no water left. But Denver officials have expressed skepticism,because Missouri or Mississippi water isof inferior quality to pure mountain water. There are at least half a dozen major water pipeline projects under consideration throughout the region, ranging from ambitious to outlandish. Yes, it would be hugely expensive. We are already in a severe drought. Proposed interstate water pipelines to California - Wikipedia Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or dream? Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com 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. Its largestdam would be 1,700 feet tall, more than twice the height of Hoover Dam. We need to protect our water supply, at allcosts, and forgo our financialgains. 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. 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. Then take it out of the southern tip of the aquifer in Southern Colorado. Lake Superior Water Headed to the Southwest - Word on the Street Opinion: California gave up on mandating COVID vaccines for schoolchildren. Arizona and Nevada residents must curb their use of water from the Colorado River, and California could be next. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. It is time to think outside the box of rain. 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. The idea's been dismissed for as long as it's. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. 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. 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. But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid Westhave beenfloated for decades. 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. 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. 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. You could do it.". 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. My state, your state. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. From winter lettuce in grocery stores to the golf courses of the Sun Belt, the Wests explosive growth over the past century rests on aqueducts, canals and drainage systems. Pipelines usually consist of sections of pipe made of . She said extensive public education, aided by federal mandates and financial incentives, eventually led toa wholesale transition that saves millions of gallons of water. 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. 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. The idea of diverting water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin is an excellent one, albeit also fantastically expensive. Booming Utah metro wants to pipe in water from Lake Powell so it can 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.. This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. "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. But interest spans deeper than that. Pitt, who was a technical adviser on Reclamation's2012 report,decried ceaselesspipeline proposals. 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. 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. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesn't always have enough water to spare. Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. All rights reserved. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. It boggles the mind. Theyre all such hypocrites. 10/4/2021. 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. Any water diversion from the Mississippi to Arizona must be pumped about 6,000 feet up, over the Rockies. "I don't think that drought, especially in the era of climate change, is something we can engineer our way out of.". Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. 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. 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. 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. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients, and invasive species. Savor that while your lawns are dying. But interest spans deeper than that. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. 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? Why are they so hard to catch? The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Sharing Mississippi water with California would help feed America - Yahoo! Reader support helps sustain our work. "Yes, a Superior-Green River pipeline seems unrealistic, even impossible at first glance," Huttner wrote for Minnesota Public Radio. 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. Among its provisions, the law granted the states water infrastructure finance authority to investigate the feasibility of potential out-of-state water import agreements. 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. 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. 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. China, unlike the US, is unencumbered by NEPA, water rights and democratic processes in general. Do we have the political will? Proponents of these projects argue that they could stabilize western cities for decades to come, connecting populations with unclaimed water rights. 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. Why can't California build a pipeline for water from other states 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. All rights reserved. But the idea hasnever completely died. 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 . 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. The state is expected to lose 10% of its water over the next two decades, reports the . Twitter, Follow us on And several approved diversions draw water from the Great Lakes. Here are some facts to put perspective to severalof the opinions already expressed here: An aqueduct running from thelower Mississippi to the Colorado River (via the San Juan River tributary, at Farmington, New Mexico), with the same capacity as the California Aqueduct, would roughly double the flow of thelatter while taking merely 1-3% of the formers flow. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. 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. 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. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. Las Vegas' grand proposal is to take water from the mighty Mississippi in a series of smaller pipeline-like exchanges among states just west of the Mississippi to refill the overused. 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. The 2012 study didn't discount either option but. About 60 percent of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. The state also set aside funds in 2018 to study possible imports from the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers, but to date, the study hasnt been done, he said. Every year, NAWAPA would deliver 158 million acre-feet of water to the US, Canada, and Mexico more than 10 times the annual flow of the Colorado River. The river's web, if some have their way, could become even larger. A pipeline taking water from the Missouri River west makes perfect sense, if you don't care about money, energy, or the environment. 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. 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. "People are spoiled in the United States. These realities havent stopped the Wests would-be water barons from dreaming. 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. 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. Each year . Pipe water from the plentiful Great Lakes to deserted towns in the West like Phoenix and Las Vegas. The delta was tricky for barge traffic and shipping to navigate. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or dream? Meanwhile, watershed states in the U.S., and even counties havetaken actionto preventsuch schemes. What's the solution to West's water crisis? Desperate ideas explained Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or pipe dream? Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. "My son will never know what a six-gallon toilet looks like," she said. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. Is California still in a drought? Recent storms fill many CA reservoirs "I started withtoilets, I was the toilet queen of L.A.," said Westford. Absolutely not," said Meena Westford, executive director of Colorado River resource policy for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. An in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet to Larsons knowledge. 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. 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. 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.