water pipeline from mississippi river to california

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. Facebook, Follow us on Who is going to come to the desert and use it? About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. 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. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. And there are several approved diversions that draw water from the Great Lakes. In China, the massiveSouth-to-North Water Diversion Projectis the largest such project ever undertaken. 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. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. 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. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. 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. Gavin Newsom if he's. You tellgolf courses how much water they can use, but one of thelargest wave basins in the world is acceptable? It dawned on Million that Colorado had unclaimed rights to water from the Green, since the river was part of the Colorado River system, and he devised a plan to build a pipeline that would pump water around the Rockies to the city of Fort Collins, where he lives. 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. In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. 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. 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. We have already introduced invasive species all over the continentzebra mussels, quagga mussels, grass carp, spiny water flea, lampreys, ru. Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. 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. But the loss of so much water from the. 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. Every day, we hear about water conservation, restrictions. A multi-state pipeline could easily require decades before it delivers a drop of water," said Michael Cohen, senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. 2023 www.desertsun.com. 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. But it's doable. That project, which also faces heavy headwinds from environmentalists, wouldcost an estimated $12 billion. But Denver officials have expressed skepticism,because Missouri or Mississippi water isof inferior quality to pure mountain water. 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. Experts say theres a proverbial snowballs chance in August of most of theseschemes being implemented. 10/4/2021. I find it interesting that households have to watch how much water theyare usingfor washing clothes, wateringlawns, washing cars,etc. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. The most obvious problem with this proposal is its mind-boggling cost. 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 idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. Take that, Lake Mead. The Colorado River is drying up. 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. It would turn the Southwest into an oasis, and the Great Basin into productive farmland. 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. 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. 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. 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. The mountains are green now but that could be harmful during wildfire season. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. 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. Just pump water a few miles from the Mississippi near Des Moines into the Ogallala aquifer. Nevertheless, Million hasnt given up, and hes currently working to secure permitting for the fourth iteration of the project. 2023 www.desertsun.com. Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was filled 85 years ago. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. "People are spoiled in the United States. 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. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Additionally, building large infrastructure projects in general has become more difficult, in part thanks to reforms like the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires that detailed environmental impact statements be produced and evaluated for large new infrastructure projects. Pipelines usually consist of sections of pipe made of . The state should do everything possible to push conservation, but thats not going to cure the issue, he told Grist. Instagram, Follow us on 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. 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. This would take 254 days to fill.. "To my mind, the overriding fatal flaw for large import schemes is the time required to become operational. The elephant in the room, according to Fort, is agriculture, which accounts for more than 80 percent of water withdrawals from the Colorado River. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations. 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. I have dystopian nightmares aboutpipelines marching across the landscape, saidglobal water scarcity expert Jay Famiglietti. Still, he admits the road hasnt always been easy, and that victory is far from guaranteed. "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. 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. States wish they wouldnt. 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. Stop letting excess water flow out to sea. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. A multi-state compact already prohibits any sale of water from the Great Lakes unless all bordering states agree to it, and its almost certain that Mississippi River states would pass laws restricting water diversions, or file lawsuits against western states, if the project went forward. But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.. Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. 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 Old River Control Structure, as it was dubbed, is also the linchpin of massive but delicate locks and pulsed flows that feed the largest bottomland hardwood forests and wetlands in the United States, outstripping thebetter-known Okefenokee Swamp that straddles Georgia and Florida. Were not looking for the last dollar out of this project, he told me. Answer (1 of 21): Interbasin transfer is something we try to avoid. 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST 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.. 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 . She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com or @janetwilson66 on Twitter. Buying land to secure water rights would also cost a chunk of cash, which leads to an even larger obstacle for such proposals: the legal and political hoops. But if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly. "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. 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. 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. Still, its physically possible. The idea is as old and dusty as the desert Southwest: Pipe abundant Great Lakes water to parched cities out West, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas. 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. Take for instance the so-called Water Horse pipeline, a pet project of a Colorado investor and entrepreneur named Aaron Million. Infrastructure is one of the few ways well turn things around to assure that theres some supply.. Some plans call for a connection to. 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. 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. Million himself, though, is confident that his pipeline will get built, and that it will ensure Fort Collins future. Engineers said the pipelineidea is technically feasible. Meanwhile, watershed states in the U.S., and even counties havetaken actionto preventsuch schemes. More by The Associated Press, Got a story tip? My state, your state. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. "I think that societally, we want to be more flexible. 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. 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. Talk about a job-creating infrastructure project, which would rivalthe tremendous civilengineering feats our country used to be noted for. In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. . 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. 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. Absolutely. Yes. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. The 2012 study didn't discount either option but. 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. Is this a goo. By Brittney J. Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette. Title: USGS Surface-Water Daily Data for the Nation URL: https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv? Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. 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. 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. 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. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. Environmental writerMarc Reisner said the plan was one of "brutal magnificence" and "unprecedented destructiveness." 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 . Gavin Newsom reaffirming his support for the ambitious proposal. 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 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. 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 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. The agency is moving forward with smallerprojects across the state to reduce seismic and hydrologic risks, like eliminating leaks or seepage, including at four existing dams and related spillways in Riverside and Los Angeles counties. People need to focus on their realistic solutions.. We want to have more sustainable infrastructure. 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. 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. 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. 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. . The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. 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. Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA Today'sClimate Point newsletter. Do we have the political will? Here's How. "Yes, a Superior-Green River pipeline seems unrealistic, even impossible at first glance," Huttner wrote for Minnesota Public Radio. Thats not to mention the housing development again, for the very wealthy with its own lagoon. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesn't always have enough water to spare. 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. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. 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. Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. 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. The trooper inside suffered minor injuries. It boggles the mind. 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. Don't bother sending notices on conservation; they willbe ignored. 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. People fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta's Elk Slough near Courtland, California, on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. Follow us on Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. YouTube, Follow us on Nonetheless, Siefkes trans-basin pipeline proposal went viral, receiving nearly half a million views. Anyone who thinks we can drain the aquifer and survive is grossly misinformed. 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. Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. Water use has gone down 40% per capita in recent years, said Coffey. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. after the growth in California . Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where its used for coastal restoration. The Arizona Legislature wants the federal government to study the feasibility of constructing a pipeline . Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but would require decades of construction and billions of dollars. In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. Savor that while your lawns are dying. The largest eastern river, the Mississippi, has about 30 times the average annual flow of the Colorado, and the Columbia has close to 10 times. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. An in-depth feasibility study specifically on pumping Mississippi River water to the West hasnt been conducted yet to Larsons knowledge. Dothey pay extra for using our water? 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. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesnt always have enough water to spare. Noting about 4.5 million gallons per second of Mississippi River flow past the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana, the letter writer explains diverting 250,000 gallons per second would. Moreover, we need water in our dams for. Not mentioned was the great grand-daddy of all schemes for re-allocating water, known as the North American Water and Power Authority Plan. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. By the way, none of this includes the incredible carbon footprints about to be stomped on the environment. 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. 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. "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. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. Reader support helps sustain our work. But water expertssaid it would likely take at least 30 years to clear legal hurdles to such a plan. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. The resulting fresh water would bepiped northto the thirsty state. Since about 1983, Lake Mead has dropped in volume from full capacity at. "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 . 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. "I started withtoilets, I was the toilet queen of L.A.," said Westford. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. The bigger obstacles are fiscal, legal, environmentaland most of all, political. 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. 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. The water will drain into the headwaters of the Colorado river. "I'm an optimist," said Coffey, who said local conservation is key. An acre-foot is enough water to serve about two households for a year, so it could supply water to 150 million customers. As part of our commitment to sustainability, in 2021 Grist moved its office headquarters to the Bullitt Center in Seattles vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake . 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. Twitter, Follow us on Million sued, and he says he expects a ruling this year. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. We have to conserve water, butnota ridiculous wave parkthat willprobably go bankrupt? The idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. 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. Weve had a few blizzards along the way, and some gun battles, but it is what it is.. Donate today to keep our climate news free.

Top Tier Law Firm Salary Australia, Articles W