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. To be talking about pipe dreams, when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. 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. 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. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. Here's How. Do we have the political will? 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. Developed in 1964 by engineer Ralph Parsons and his Pasadena-basedParsons Corporation,the plan would provide 75million acre-feet of water to arid areas inCanada, the United States and Mexico. We have to conserve water, butnota ridiculous wave parkthat willprobably go bankrupt? Then take it out of the southern tip of the aquifer in Southern Colorado. 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. Answer (1 of 21): Interbasin transfer is something we try to avoid. Much of the sediment it was carrying was dropped in the slow moving water of the Delta. Who is going to come to the desert and use it? The most obvious problem with this proposal is its mind-boggling cost. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. 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. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. She and others worked to persuade reluctant consumers, builders and policymakers to ditchwidely usedsix-gallon flush toilets in favor of perfectly effective two-gallon versions. Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure dont need all that water. The Associated Press Climate team contributed images and page design. Each year worsens our receipt of rain and snow. Facebook, Follow us on Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. 2023 www.desertsun.com. It was the Bureau of Reclamation. "To my mind, the overriding fatal flaw for large import schemes is the time required to become operational. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. All rights reserved. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. You could do it.". 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. Even if the sticker price werent so prohibitive, there are other obstacles. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. I think the feasibility study is likely to tell us what we already know, he said, which is that there are a lot less expensive, less complicated options that we can be investing in right now, like reducing water use. An acre-foot is enough water to serve about two households for a year, so it could supply water to 150 million customers. An earlier version of this story misidentified for which agency Jennifer Pitt was a technical adviser. 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. 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. Opinion: How has American healthcare gone so wrong? But interest spans deeper than that. A pipeline taking water from the Missouri River west makes perfect sense, if you don't care about money, energy, or the environment. "Yes, a Superior-Green River pipeline seems unrealistic, even impossible at first glance," Huttner wrote for Minnesota Public Radio. Letter writers have asked why a water pipeline is not constructed from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River. Physically, some could be achieved. Million sued, and he says he expects a ruling this year. 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. 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 trooper inside suffered minor injuries. Proponents of these projects argue that they could stabilize western cities for decades to come, connecting populations with unclaimed water rights. "We're going to start to see these reservoirs, which nine of them are already filled from the rain water, so then you add on snow melt and we may have some problems with that as far as flooding . Power from its hydroelectric dams would boost U.S. electricity supplies. 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. 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. This would take 254 days to fill.. Each year . 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. In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. You tellgolf courses how much water they can use, but one of thelargest wave basins in the world is acceptable? 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. We want to have more sustainable infrastructure. 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. Each state along the Colorado River basin had the rights to a certain quantity of river water, divided among major users like farms and cities, and the projects were designed to help the states realize those abstract rights. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but require decades of construction and billions of dollars. Local hurdles include endangered species protections, wetlands protections, drinking water supply considerations and interstate shipping protections. The resulting fresh water would bepiped northto the thirsty state. 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. 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. Makes me wonder how this got this far, whose interests are being served and who's benefiting. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. 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. Drainage area 171,500 square miles . But interest spans deeper than that. Releasing more water downstream would come at the expense of upstream users . The snowbirds commonly stay here for at least six months. Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. 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. Donate today to keep our climate news free. 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. 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. 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. Heres how that affects Indigenous water rights, Salton Sea public health disaster gets a $250 million shot in the arm. All rights reserved. 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. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. 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. Meanwhile, a rookie Democrat running for governor in Californias recall election last year proposed declaring a state of emergency in order to build a similar project. Anyone who thinks we can drain the aquifer and survive is grossly misinformed. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Just pump water a few miles from the Mississippi near Des Moines into the Ogallala aquifer. 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. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid Westhave beenfloated for decades. Take for instance the so-called Water Horse pipeline, a pet project of a Colorado investor and entrepreneur named Aaron Million. Gavin Newsom if he's. 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 if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly. By Brittney J. Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette. If you dont have enough of it, go find more. A multi-state pipeline could easily require decades before it delivers a drop of water," said Michael Cohen, senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. . My water, your water. 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 only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Last time I heard, we are still the United States of America.". Asked about a Mississippi River pipeline or other new infrastructure to rescue the Colorado River, federal and state officials declined to respondor said there was no realistic chance such a major infrastructure project is in the offing. YouTube, Follow us on She points to her earlyworkfor comparison. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. 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. 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. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where it's used for coastal restoration. This latest version would curve up through the Wyoming flatlands and back down to Fort Collins, a distance of around 340 miles. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. These realities havent stopped the Wests would-be water barons from dreaming. 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. 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. Design and build by Upstatement. 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. Rescue the oceans from the pollution that flood waters pick up and dump into the ocean, creating dead zones. Infrastructure is one of the few ways well turn things around to assure that theres some supply.. 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. But interest spans deeper than that. 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. 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. 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. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients, and invasive species. . An in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet to Larsons knowledge. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. 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. 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. The lawsuit, originally filed in southern Texas' federal courts Jan. 18, was amended to include Idaho on Monday. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. Still, its physically possible. 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.