These realities havent stopped the Wests would-be water barons from dreaming. 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. Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or pipe dream? This summer, as seven states and Mexico push to meet a Tuesday deadline to agree on plans to shore up the Colorado River and itsshrivelingreservoirs, retired engineer Don Siefkes of San Leandro, California,wrote a letter to The Desert Sun with what he said was asolution to the West's water woes: build an aqueduct from the Old River Control Structure to Lake Powell, 1,489 miles west, to refill the Colorado River system with Mississippi River water. 00:00 00:00 An unknown error. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. 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 largest eastern river, the Mississippi, has about 30 times the average annual flow of the Colorado, and the Columbia has close to 10 times. Water Pipeline: From Mississippi River To The West? - YouTube Arizona and Nevada residents must curb their use of water from the Colorado River, and California could be next. But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid Westhave beenfloated for decades. 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. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 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. Environmental writerMarc Reisner said the plan was one of "brutal magnificence" and "unprecedented destructiveness." 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. I can't even imagine what it would all cost. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, for instance, prompting concerns over river navigation. 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. All rights reserved. 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. In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. 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. Hydrologic Unit Code 07110009. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. Still, he admits the road hasnt always been easy, and that victory is far from guaranteed. Water from these and other large rivers pour. Siphon off a big portion, and youd be swapping oneecological catastrophe for another, said Audubons Johnson. By Brittney J. Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette. What states in the Southwest have failed to do is curtail growth and agriculture that is, of course, water-driven. If we had a big pipeline from Lake Sakakawea, we wouldn't just dump it into Lake Powell. 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. Facebook, Follow us on The idea's been dismissed for as long as it's. Stop letting excess water flow out to sea. Twitter, Follow us on 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. Who is going to come to the desert and use it? 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. The federal Water Conservation Bureau gave approval Tuesday to piping 440 billion gallons of water per month to Arizona. Experts we spoke with agreed the feat would be astronomical. This One thousand mile long pipeline could move water from the Eastern USA (Great Lakes, Ohio River, Missouri River, and Mississippi River) to the Colorado River via the Mississippi River. 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. Why can't California build a pipeline for water from other states This latest version would curve up through the Wyoming flatlands and back down to Fort Collins, a distance of around 340 miles. Title: USGS Surface-Water Daily Data for the Nation URL: https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv? 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. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesnt always have enough water to spare. Vessels ran aground and had to navigate very carefully. It was the Bureau of Reclamation. This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. 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. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in adrought resilience plan he announcedlast week, though in brackish inland areas. California uses 34 million acre-feet of water per year for agriculture. My water, your water. 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. Weve had a few blizzards along the way, and some gun battles, but it is what it is.. 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. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. 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. 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. It is time to think outside the box of rain. But if areas like the Coachella Valley continue to approve surf waveparks and "beachfront" developments in the desert, "we're screwed," he said bluntly. Can drought-stricken CA get water from Midwest via pipeline? Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. "Mexico has said it didn't although there has been a recent change ingovernment.". If you dont have enough of it, go find more. An acre-foot is enough water to serve about two households for a year, so it could supply water to 150 million customers. Million sued, and he says he expects a ruling this year. 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. 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. Plus, the federal report found the water would be of much lower quality than other western water sources. 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 . Pipeline from Mississippi - Coyote Gulch The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, prodded by members of Congressfrom western states, studied the massive proposal. 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. Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure dont need all that water. But the idea hasnever completely died. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST .
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