Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. Under the analyzed scenario, water would be conveyed to Colorados Front Range and areas of New Mexico to help fulfill water needs. 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. 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 . 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. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, Whats Working: How a Denver nonprofit is expanding the benefits of work. Savor that while your lawns are dying. Even if the sticker price werent so prohibitive, there are other obstacles. 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. Infrastructure is one of the few ways well turn things around to assure that theres some supply.. 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. But, as water scarcity in the West gets more desperate, the hurdles could be overcome one day. Heres why thats wise, Nicholas Goldberg: How I became a tool of Chinas giant anti-American propaganda machine, Opinion: Girls reporting sexual abuse shouldnt have to fear being prosecuted. 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. Instagram, Follow us on Last time I heard, we are still the United States of America.". 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. "I'm an optimist," said Coffey, who said local conservation is key. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), FILE - Dredge Jadwin, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging vessel, powers south down the Mississippi River Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022, past Commerce, Mo. Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA Today'sClimate Point newsletter. Has no one noticed how much hotter the desert is getting, not to mention the increase in fires in our area. 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. 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. The trooper inside suffered minor injuries. Politics are an even bigger obstacle to making multi-state pipelines a reality. We have already introduced invasive species all over the continentzebra mussels, quagga mussels, grass carp, spiny water flea, lampreys, ru. 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. As zany as the ideas may sound, could anywork, and if so, what would be the costs? Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. 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. 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. Thats not to mention the housing development again, for the very wealthy with its own lagoon. "This sounds outlandish, but we have a massive problem," Paffrath said. Yes. Each year worsens our receipt of rain and snow. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. She points to her earlyworkfor comparison. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, prodded by members of Congressfrom western states, studied the massive proposal. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Most notably, the Mississippi River basin doesnt always have enough water to spare. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST 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. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. Drought conditions plagued the region throughout 2022, prompting concerns over river navigation. 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. Heproposed usingnuclear explosionsto excavate the system's trenches and underground water storage reservoirs. "My son will never know what a six-gallon toilet looks like," she said. Still, its physically possible. "Should we move the water to where the food is grown, or is it maybe time to think about moving the food production to the water?" Others said the costs of an Arizona-Mexico desalination plant would also likely prove infeasible. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. Officials imposed the state's first-ever water restrictions on cities and towns, and California farmers are drilling deeper and . Million sued, and he says he expects a ruling this year. Famiglietti saidit's time for a national water policy, not to figure out where to lay down hundreds of pipesbut to look comprehensively at the intertwining of agriculture and the lion's share ofwater it uses. 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. The pipeline will end in the Rocky Mountain National park. Here in the scorching Coachella Valley, local governments have approved construction of four surf resorts for the very wealthy. Do we have the political will? What goes into the cat-and-mouse game of forecasting Colorados avalanche risks? Take for instance the so-called Water Horse pipeline, a pet project of a Colorado investor and entrepreneur named Aaron Million. Trans-national pipelines would also impact ecological resources. Among its provisions, the law granted the states water infrastructure finance authority to investigate the feasibility of potential out-of-state water import agreements. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. 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. 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. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. But interest spans deeper than that. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. 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. 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. after the growth in California . WATER WILL SOON be flowing from Lake Superior to the parched American Southwest. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. Twitter, Follow us on 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. 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. He frames the pipeline as a complement to water-saving policies. The . 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. 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. Stories of similar projects often share the same ending, from proposals in Iowa and Minnesota to those between Canada and the United States. The total projected cost of the plan in 1975 was $100 billion or nearly $570billion in today's dollars,comparable to theInterstate Highway System. The river's web, if some have their way, could become even larger. 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.. China, unlike the US, is unencumbered by NEPA, water rights and democratic processes in general. 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. . 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. Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. Not mentioned was the great grand-daddy of all schemes for re-allocating water, known as the North American Water and Power Authority Plan. Why are they so hard to catch? The pipeline would help it tap another 86,000 acre-feet of . 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. But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid Westhave beenfloated for decades. 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.
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