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. Stories of similar projects often share the same ending, from proposals in Iowa and Minnesota to those between Canada and the United States. 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 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. Experts say those will require sacrifices but not as many as building a giant pipeline would require. Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA Today'sClimate Point newsletter. Above, the droughts effects can be seen at a marina on June 29. Today, any water pipeline could cost from $10 billion to $20 billion with another $30 billion in improvements just to get the water to thirsty people and farms. Coffey said the project isn't really a pipeline, but more "a bypass for an aging 60-year-old"system. Facebook, Follow us on 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. Politics are an even bigger obstacle for making multi-state pipelines a reality. Still, its physically possible. 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. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson), Lawmakers targeting hospital facility fees, Whats Working: How a Denver nonprofit is expanding the benefits of work. About 33% of vegetables and 66% of fruits and nuts are produced in California for consumption for the nation. 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. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? "This sounds outlandish, but we have a massive problem," Paffrath said. About 60% of the region remains in some form of drought, continuing a decades-long spiral into water scarcity. 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. Seeking answers,The Desert Sun consultedwater experts, conservation groups and government officials for their assessments. We want to have more sustainable infrastructure. 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 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. 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. Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure dont need all that water. The bigger obstacles are fiscal, legal, environmentaland most of all, political. 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. 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. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. She said extensive public education, aided by federal mandates and financial incentives, eventually led toa wholesale transition that saves millions of gallons of water. My state, your state. Well, kind of, Letters to the Editor: Shasta County dumps Dominion voting machines at its own peril, Editorial: Bay Area making climate change history by phasing out sales of gas furnaces and water heaters, Column: Mike Lindell is helping a California county dump voting machines. But pipelines and other big ideaswill always attract interest, hydrology experts said, because they falsely promise an innovative, easy way out. PROVISIONAL DATA SUBJECT TO REVISION. All rights reserved. "People are spoiled in the United States. The mountains are green now but that could be harmful during wildfire season. It's the lowest level since the lake was filled in the. Arizonas main active management areas are in Maricopa, Pinal, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties, leaving much of rural Arizona water use unregulated. 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. 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. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. Buying land to secure water rights would cost a chunk of cash, too, which leads to an even larger obstacle for such proposals: the legal and political hoops. 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. 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. Could a water pipeline from the Mississippi River to Arizona be a real solution? Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. 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. But interest spans deeper than that. Siphon off a big portion, and youd be swapping oneecological catastrophe for another, said Audubons Johnson. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. Even if the government could clear these hurdles, the odds that Midwestern states would just let their water go are slim. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. No one wants to leave the western states without water, said Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Doug Ducey signed legislation this past July that invested $1.2 billion to fund projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. He frames the pipeline as a complement to water-saving policies. Pipelines usually consist of sections of pipe made of . Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. If we had a big pipeline from Lake Sakakawea, we wouldn't just dump it into Lake Powell. By Brittney J. Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette. 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. "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. Its largestdam would be 1,700 feet tall, more than twice the height of Hoover Dam. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. Every day, we hear about water conservation, restrictions. 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. [1] You couldbuild a pipeline from the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers. 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. Tina Peters convicted of government obstruction charge, acquitted of obstructing a police officer, (720) 263-2338 Call, text, Signal or WhatsApp, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Haul icebergs from the Arctic to a new southern California port. On the heels of Arizonas 2021 push for a pipeline feasibility study, former Arizona Gov. 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. of Engineers has turned back official requests for more water from the Missouri River to alleviate shortages on the Mississippi. 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. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but require decades of construction and billions of dollars. The water pipelines from the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa connecting to the headwaters of the Colorado River at the Rocky Mountain National Park. The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. The idea's been dismissed for as long as it's. 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. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. 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 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. 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. By George Skelton Capitol Journal Columnist Aug. 30, 2021 5 AM PT SACRAMENTO The award for dumbest idea of the recall election goes to the rookie Democrat who proposed building a water. And biologists andenvironmental attorneys saidNew Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water. 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. Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h. 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. Page Contact Information: Missouri Water Data Support Team Page Last Modified: 2023-03-04 08:46:14 EST . Los Angeles-area water districts have implemented much of what Famiglietti mentioned. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients and invasive species. 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.
What Happened To Buddy Lansky, Expanding Expression Tool Iep Goals, Sky Sports Golf Presenters 2021, Articles W