Pipelines usually consist of sections of pipe made of . Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. Much of the sediment it was carrying was dropped in the slow moving water of the Delta. Since about 1983, Lake Mead has dropped in volume from full capacity at. ", Westford of Southern California's Metropolitan Water District agreed. The idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. General Manager Henry Martinez also warned that cutting water to Imperial Valley farmers and nearby Yuma County, Arizona, could lead to a food crisis as well as a water crisis. 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. 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. 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. "People are spoiled in the United States. Take for instance the so-called Water Horse pipeline, a pet project of a Colorado investor and entrepreneur named Aaron Million. We are already in a severe drought. The water would be drained via a 36 inch pipe already installed four miles west of Sugarloaf Mountain outside Marquette. Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. 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. The idea of a pipeline transecting the continent is not a new idea. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. 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 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. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. 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. Heres how that affects Indigenous water rights, Salton Sea public health disaster gets a $250 million shot in the arm. The plan would divert water from the Missouri River which normally flows into the Mississippi River and out to the Gulf of Mexico through an enormous pipeline slicing some 600 miles (970 . Hydrologic Unit Code 07110009. 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. Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); A nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. 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 Nevada Legislature is considering a bill that, if passed, would require restaurants to only provide water upon customer request. 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. 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. after the growth in California . The idea of drinking even heavily treated liquid wastemay seem unpalatable, but Westfordthinks people will adapt. In their technical report, which hasnt been peer-reviewed, they calculated that a pipe for moving this scale of water would need to be 88 feet in diameter around twice the length of a semi trailer or a 100-foot-wide channel thats 61 feet deep. ", But desert defenders pushed back. 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. Los Angeles-area water districts have implemented much of what Famiglietti mentioned. 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. Design and build by Upstatement. after the growth in California . continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. We have already introduced invasive species all over the continentzebra mussels, quagga mussels, grass carp, spiny water flea, lampreys, ru. 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. This would take 254 days to fill.. 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. 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. The delta was tricky for barge traffic and shipping to navigate. What goes into the cat-and-mouse game of forecasting Colorados avalanche risks? 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. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, prodded by members of Congressfrom western states, studied the massive proposal. 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. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. The Colorado River is drying up. of Engineers has turned back official requests for more water from the Missouri River to alleviate shortages on the Mississippi. 00:00 00:00 An unknown error. Gavin Newsom reaffirming his support for the ambitious proposal. Paffrath proposed building a pipeline from the Mississippi River to bring water to drought-stricken California. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. Nonetheless, Siefkes trans-basin pipeline proposal went viral, receiving nearly half a million views. 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. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. Arizona is among six states, that released a letter and a proposed model for how much Colorado River water they could potentially cut to stave off a collapse. The ongoing drought in California has hit its fourth year. The Mississippi used to flow through a delta full of bayous, shifting sad bars, And islets. This latest version would curve up through the Wyoming flatlands and back down to Fort Collins, a distance of around 340 miles. 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. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. You could do it.". Arizonas main active management areas are in Maricopa, Pinal, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties, leaving much of rural Arizona water use unregulated. Pitt, who was a technical adviser on Reclamation's2012 report,decried ceaselesspipeline proposals. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. But the idea hasnever completely died. 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. Photos of snowfall around northern Arizona. He said hes open to one but doesnt think its necessary. Answer (1 of 21): Interbasin transfer is something we try to avoid. Their technical report, which hasnt been peer-reviewed. Officials imposed the state's first-ever water restrictions on cities and towns, and California farmers are drilling deeper and . . It would turn the Southwest into an oasis, and the Great Basin into productive farmland. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients and invasive species. 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. The river's web, if some have their way, could become even larger. 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. 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. 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 moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. Reader support helps sustain our work. The most obvious problem with this proposal is its mind-boggling cost. For as long as this idea has been proposed. Runa giant hose from the Columbia River along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to refill Diamond Valley Reservoir. 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. To be talking about pipe dreams, when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. 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. It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. The basic idea is to take water from the Mississippi River, pump it a thousand miles west, and dump it into the overtaxed Colorado River, which provides water for millions of Arizona residents but has reached historically low levels as its reservoirs dry up. This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. By the way, none of this includes the incredible carbon footprints about to be stomped on the environment. The actual costs to build such a pipeline today would likely be orders of magnitude higher, thanks to inflation and inevitable construction snags. But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. 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 memorial also suggests that the pipeline could be used as stormwater infrastructure to prevent regular flooding along the . Theyre all such hypocrites. 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. Million sued, and he says he expects a ruling this year. The elephant in the room, according to Fort, is agriculture, which accounts for more than 80 percent of water withdrawals from the Colorado River. Stop letting excess water flow out to sea. 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. Other forms of augmentation, like desalination, are also gaining popularity on the national scene as possible options. China, unlike the US, is unencumbered by NEPA, water rights and democratic processes in general. Every day, we hear about water conservation, restrictions. Instead, California is focused on better managing the water we have, improving forecasting, and making our groundwater basins more sustainable.. 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. Newsom said the state must capture 100 million metric tons of carbon each year by 2045 about a quarter of what the state now emits annually. 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. 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.. Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. 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. Then take it out of the southern tip of the aquifer in Southern Colorado. 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. Has no one noticed how much hotter the desert is getting, not to mention the increase in fires in our area. Stories of similar projects often share the same ending, from proposals in Iowa and Minnesota to those between Canada and the United States. "I think that societally, we want to be more flexible. 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. Whereas I understand water rights, but globalwarming has introduced new priorities. 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. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream. Even if the sticker price werent so prohibitive, there are other obstacles. She said extensive public education, aided by federal mandates and financial incentives, eventually led toa wholesale transition that saves millions of gallons of water. 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 . It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.. "Mexico has said it didn't although there has been a recent change ingovernment.". Here are some facts to put perspective to several of the. 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. The pipeline would help it tap another 86,000 acre-feet of . 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. In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. "Arizona really, really wants oceanfront," she chuckled. Anyone who thinks we can drain the aquifer and survive is grossly misinformed. Amid a major drought in the Western U.S., a proposed solution comes up repeatedly: large-scale river diversions, including pumping Mississippi River water to parched states. Infrastructure is one of the few ways well turn things around to assure that theres some supply.. What states in the Southwest have failed to do is curtail growth and agriculture that is, of course, water-driven. Opinion: How has American healthcare gone so wrong? Latitude 3853'06", Longitude 9010'51" NAD27. Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. 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. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. No. To be talking about pipe dreams when thats not even feasible for decades, if at all Its a disservice, Scanlan said. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. 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. There are at least half a dozen major water pipeline projects under consideration throughout the region, ranging from ambitious to outlandish. Last updated on: February 10, 2023, 10:54h. There are no easy fixes to a West that has grown and has allocated all of its water theres no silver bullet, she said. But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will. In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. Last time I heard, we are still the United States of America.". 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. 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. 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. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesn't always have enough water to spare. 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. For one, theres no longer enough unclaimed water to make most pipeline projects cost-effective. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Drought looms over midterm elections in the arid West, From lab to market, bio-based products are gaining momentum, The hazards of gas stoves were flagged by the industry and hidden 50 years ago, How Alaskas coastal communities are racing against erosion, Construction begins on controversial lithium mine in Nevada. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 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. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations. To the editor: I'd like to ask if the reader from Chatsworth calling for the construction of a water pipeline from the Mississippi River to Colorado River reservoirs has ever been to . 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. Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. That project, which also faces heavy headwinds from environmentalists, wouldcost an estimated $12 billion. Arizona and Nevada residents must curb their use of water from the Colorado River, and California could be next. Could a water pipeline from the Mississippi River to Arizona be a real solution? Yes. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. The state should do everything possible to push conservation, but thats not going to cure the issue, he told Grist. (Unrecognizable. Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis, July 11). 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. 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. 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.. In any case, Utah rejected a permit for the project in 2020, saying it would jeopardize the states own water rights. Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was filled 85 years ago. The Western U.S. is experiencing its driest period in more than a thousand years, according to scientists from UCLA and Columbia University. 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?" A drive up Interstate 5 shows how muchland has been fallowed due tolack of water. YouTube. 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. Instagram, Follow us on All rights reserved. The total projected cost of the plan in 1975 was $100 billion or nearly $570billion in today's dollars,comparable to theInterstate Highway System. "I started withtoilets, I was the toilet queen of L.A.," said Westford. As zany as the ideas may sound, could anywork, and if so, what would be the costs? They also concluded environmental and permitting reviews would take decades. 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. It's the lowest level since the lake was filled in the. To the editor: With the threat of brownouts and over-stressed power grids, dwindling water resources in California and the call to reduce consumption by 15%, I want to point out we are not all in this together. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. Parsons said theplanwould replenishthe upper Missouri and Mississippi Rivers during dry spells, increase hydropower along the Columbia Riverand stabilize the Great Lakes. The sharing of water would greatly contribute to California being able to feed the nation. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. The project would require more than 300 new dams,canals, pipelines, tunnels, and pumping stations, bans large waterexportsoutside of the area. and Renstrom says that unless Utah builds a long-promised pipeline to pump water 140 miles from Lake .