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For one, theres no longer enough unclaimed water to make most pipeline projects cost-effective. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. 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. The lawsuit, originally filed in southern Texas' federal courts Jan. 18, was amended to include Idaho on Monday. Nevertheless, Million hasnt given up, and hes currently working to secure permitting for the fourth iteration of the project. of Engineers has turned back official requests for more water from the Missouri River to alleviate shortages on the Mississippi. It's 2011 and the technology exists to build a series of water pipelines across the US, to channel flood water to holding tanks in other areas, and to supply water to drought stricken areas. Some plans call for a connection to. By the way, none of this includes the incredible carbon footprints about to be stomped on the environment. Here are some facts to put perspective to several of the. 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 . 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. Letter writers have asked why a water pipeline is not constructed from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River. after the growth in California . Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. Then take it out of the southern tip of the aquifer in Southern Colorado. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. The letter and others with an array of ideasgenerated hugeinterest from readers around the country and debate about whether the conceptsare technically feasible, politically possible orenvironmentally wise. The water would be drained via a 36 inch pipe already installed four miles west of Sugarloaf Mountain outside Marquette. Inspired by Mao Zedong, who in 1952 observed, "The south has plenty of water and the north lacks it, so if possible why not borrow some?" 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. Were not looking for the last dollar out of this project, he told me. 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. But if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly. 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. 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. A Canadian entrepreneur's plan published in 1991 diverted water from eastern British Columbia to the Columbia River, then envisioned a 300-mile pipeline from the river through Oregon to a reservoir near Alturas, California. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesnt always have enough water to spare. The elephant in the room, according to Fort, is agriculture, which accounts for more than 80 percent of water withdrawals from the Colorado River. 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. To be talking about pipe dreams when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. Whereas I understand water rights, but globalwarming has introduced new priorities. But Denver officials have expressed skepticism,because Missouri or Mississippi water isof inferior quality to pure mountain water. "The engineering is feasible. YouTube. 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. "Yes, a Superior-Green River pipeline seems unrealistic, even impossible at first glance," Huttner wrote for Minnesota Public Radio. Stories of similar projects often share the same ending, from proposals in Iowa and Minnesota to those between Canada and the United States. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. 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? 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. And several approved diversions draw water from the Great Lakes. 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. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. 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. 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. 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. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. Most recently, in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation produced a report laying out a potentially grim future for the Colorado River, and had experts evaluate 14 big ideas commonly touted as potential solutions. Title: USGS Surface-Water Daily Data for the Nation URL: https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv? Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. We have already introduced invasive species all over the continentzebra mussels, quagga mussels, grass carp, spiny water flea, lampreys, ru. 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. You tellgolf courses how much water they can use, but one of thelargest wave basins in the world is acceptable? Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA Today'sClimate Point newsletter. Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. Any water diversion from the Mississippi to Arizona must be pumped about 6,000 feet up, over the Rockies. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . You could do it.". What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? Much of the sediment it was carrying was dropped in the slow moving water of the Delta. 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. Here's How. Last time I heard, we are still the United States of America.". Yes. And, here in the land of the midnight 90-degree temperatures, we are building our very own ice hockey rink, because there is more than enough electricity to freeze that body of water and keep the arena cold enough to keep the ice from melting. Each year . 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. The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. Rescue the oceans from the pollution that flood waters pick up and dump into the ocean, creating dead zones. 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. The most obvious problem with this proposal is its mind-boggling cost. . I have dystopian nightmares aboutpipelines marching across the landscape, saidglobal water scarcity expert Jay Famiglietti. Thats not to mention the housing development again, for the very wealthy with its own lagoon. 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. The bigger obstacles are fiscal, legal, environmentaland most of all, political. pipeline, line of pipe equipped with pumps and valves and other control devices for moving liquids, gases, and slurries (fine particles suspended in liquid). It is a minimum of 1,067 miles from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River if it could be built in a fairly straight line (St. Louis to Grand Junction, Colorado, based on the route of. The state is expected to lose 10% of its water over the next two decades, reports the . 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. 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. 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. At one point, activists who opposed the project erected three large billboards warning about the high cost and potential consequences, such as the possibility that drawing down the Green River could harm the rivers fish populations. Who is going to come to the desert and use it? 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. 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. Famiglietti also said while oil companies are willing to spend millions because their product yields high profits per gallon, that's not the case with water, typically considered a public resource. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. The memorial is seeking Mississippi River water as a solution to ongoing shortages on the Colorado River as water levels reach historic lows in the two largest reservoirs on the river, Lake Powell and Lake Mead. If you dont have enough of it, go find more. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. Last updated on: February 10, 2023, 10:54h. And biologists andenvironmental attorneys saidNew Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water. 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. 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. 00:00 00:00 An unknown error. . The idea of drinking even heavily treated liquid wastemay seem unpalatable, but Westfordthinks people will adapt. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. We have to conserve water, butnota ridiculous wave parkthat willprobably go bankrupt? Haul icebergs from the Arctic to a new southern California port. Drop us a note at tips@coloradosun.com. You couldbuild a pipeline from the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. 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. Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. 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. Each edition is filled with exclusive news, analysis and other behind-the-scenes information you wont find anywhere else. 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. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. "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 . When that happens, it wont be just tourists and recreational boaters who will suffer. In 1982,efforts were made to revive the plan by a Parsons company engineer, and the Lyndon Larouche movement supported itas recently as 2010. All that snow in Arizona is nice now but officials worry that it could create disastrous flooding and wildfire conditions. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. 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. 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. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. Heres how that affects Indigenous water rights, Salton Sea public health disaster gets a $250 million shot in the arm. This latest version would curve up through the Wyoming flatlands and back down to Fort Collins, a distance of around 340 miles. Still, its physically possible. It would turn the Southwest into an oasis, and the Great Basin into productive farmland. Its one of dozens of letters the paperhas received proposing or vehemently opposing schemes to fix the crashing Colorado River system, which provides water to nearly 40 million people and farms in seven western states. "I think that societally, we want to be more flexible. 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. The river's web, if some have their way, could become even larger. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Moreover, we need water in our dams for. The concepts fell into a few large categories: pipe Mississippi or Missouri River water to the eastern side of the Rockies or to Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, bring icebergs in. Others said the costs of an Arizona-Mexico desalination plant would also likely prove infeasible. California Gov. Those will require sacrifices, no doubt but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require, experts said. YouTube star and Democratic political novice Kevin Paffrath proposed the Mississippi River pipeline last week during a debate among candidates seeking to replace Gov. 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. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. 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. "I'm an optimist," said Coffey, who said local conservation is key. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but would require decades of construction and billions of dollars. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. The idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. 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. 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. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Among its provisions, the law granted the states water infrastructure finance authority to investigate the feasibility of potential out-of-state water import agreements. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com Conservation alternatives are less palatable than big infrastructure projects, but theyre also more achievable. "My son will never know what a six-gallon toilet looks like," she said. Would itbe expensive? "Nebraska wants to build a canal to pull water from the SouthPlatte River in Colorado, and downstream, Colorado wants to take water from the Missouri River and pull it back across Nebraska. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. WATER WILL SOON be flowing from Lake Superior to the parched American Southwest. But it's doable. 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 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. 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. The driver of the truck was not injured. Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was filled 85 years ago. "To my mind, the overriding fatal flaw for large import schemes is the time required to become operational. The other alternatives have political costs, and they have costs that are maybe more likely to be borne locally, including by farmers and other large water users, she said. 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. 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 . But water expertssaid it would likely take at least 30 years to clear legal hurdles to such a plan. There are no easy fixes to a West that has grown and has allocated all of its water theres no silver bullet, she said. 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.. 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. States wish they wouldnt. On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council agreed on a proposal to treat water and deliver it to the community for three years. 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. About 60 percent of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. Power from its hydroelectric dams would boost U.S. electricity supplies. 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. 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.