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Opinion: California gave up on mandating COVID vaccines for schoolchildren. But water expertssaid it would likely take at least 30 years to clear legal hurdles to such a plan. The . Latitude 3853'06", Longitude 9010'51" NAD27. 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. Yet some smaller-scale projects have become reality. But it's doable. 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. he said. He said hes open to one but doesnt think its necessary. Environmental writerMarc Reisner said the plan was one of "brutal magnificence" and "unprecedented destructiveness." Arizona state legislators asked Congress to consider a pipeline that dumps Mississippi water into the Green River, but there are alternate possibilities. 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. Even smaller projects stand to be derailed by similar hiccups. 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. 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. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients and invasive species. 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. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states to dig themselves out of droughts. 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. USGS 05587500 Mississippi River at Alton, IL. Moreover, we need water in our dams for. But interest spans deeper than that. Facebook, Follow us on The trooper inside suffered minor injuries. 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. Runa giant hose from the Columbia River along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to refill Diamond Valley Reservoir. Its largestdam would be 1,700 feet tall, more than twice the height of Hoover Dam. Mississippi River drought will impact your grocery bill. "I think that societally, we want to be more flexible. If officials approve this, the backlash willresult in everyone using as much water as wecare to. At comment sessions on Colorado's plan, he said, long-distance pipelines wereconstantly suggested by the public. Here in the scorching Coachella Valley, local governments have approved construction of four surf resorts for the very wealthy. The federal Bureau of Reclamation has already looked at piping 600,000 acre-feet of water a year from either the Missouri or the Mississippi. It was the Bureau of Reclamation. But there are tons of things that can be done but arent ever done.. Take for instance the so-called Water Horse pipeline, a pet project of a Colorado investor and entrepreneur named Aaron Million. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where it's used for coastal restoration. "Yes, a Superior-Green River pipeline seems unrealistic, even impossible at first glance," Huttner wrote for Minnesota Public Radio. Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. 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. Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. 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. As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable, Viadero said. No, lets talk about her, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, 15 arrested across L.A. County in crackdown on fraudulent benefit cards, Calmes: Heres what we should do about Marjorie Taylor Greene, Column: Did the DOJ just say Donald Trump can be held accountable for Jan. 6? 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. Widespread interest in the plan eventually fizzled. But interest spans deeper than that. 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. Rescue the oceans from the pollution that flood waters pick up and dump into the ocean, creating dead zones. For as long as this idea has been proposed. Power from its hydroelectric dams would boost U.S. electricity supplies. Why it's a longshot: First, to get across the Continental Divide and into the Colorado River, you'd need an uphill pipeline about 1,000 miles long, which is longer than any other drinking water . "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. The project would have to secure dozens of state and federal permits and clear an enormous federal environmental review; moving the water would also require the construction of several hundred megawatts of power generation. Imagine a Five foot diameter, half burried pipeline covered with photovoltaic cells on the upper half. These canals and pipelines are . What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? I have dystopian nightmares aboutpipelines marching across the landscape, saidglobal water scarcity expert Jay Famiglietti. 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 . In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, including better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance. Many sawSiefkes' idea and others like it as sheer theft by a region that needs to fix its own woes. "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?" 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.. 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. We can move water, and weve proven our desire to do it. These realities havent stopped the Wests would-be water barons from dreaming. "My son will never know what a six-gallon toilet looks like," she said. Nevertheless, Million hasnt given up, and hes currently working to secure permitting for the fourth iteration of the project. While the much-needed water has improved conditions in the parched West, experts warn against claiming victory. Savor that while your lawns are dying. People fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta's Elk Slough near Courtland, California, on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. 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. Pipe water from the plentiful Great Lakes to deserted towns in the West like Phoenix and Las Vegas. But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid Westhave beenfloated for decades. Arizonas main active management areas are in Maricopa, Pinal, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties, leaving much of rural Arizona water use unregulated. 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 . 10/4/2021. "Mexico has said it didn't although there has been a recent change ingovernment.". On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council agreed on a proposal to treat water and deliver it to the community for three years. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants,. The lawsuit, originally filed in southern Texas' federal courts Jan. 18, was amended to include Idaho on Monday. Local hurdles include endangered species protections, wetlands protections, drinking water supply considerations and interstate shipping protections. 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. Opinion: How has American healthcare gone so wrong? All it does is cause flooding and massive tax expenditures to repair and strengthen dikes, wrote Siefkes.New Orleans has a problem with that much water anyway, so lets divert 250,000 gallons/secondto Lake Powell, which currently has a shortage of 5.5 trillion gallons. The actual costs to build such a pipeline today would likely be orders of magnitude higher, thanks to inflation and inevitable construction snags. 2023 www.desertsun.com. 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. The pipeline would provide the Colorado River basin with 600,000 acre-feet of water annually, which could serve roughly a million single-family homes. 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. Stop letting excess water flow out to sea. There are no easy fixes to a West that has grown and has allocated all of its water theres no silver bullet, she said. Here's How. A federal report from a decade ago pegged an optimistic cost estimate for a similar pipeline at $14 billion and said the project would take 30 years to build; a Colorado rancher who championed the idea around the same time, meanwhile, estimated its costs at $23 billion. Some plans call for a connection to. Why are they so hard to catch? 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. 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. An earlier version of this story misidentified for which agency Jennifer Pitt was a technical adviser. 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. Politics are an even bigger obstacle to making multi-state pipelines a reality. Still, its physically possible. WATER WILL SOON be flowing from Lake Superior to the parched American Southwest. 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. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Waves of torrential rainfall drenched California into the new year. So what are the solutions to the arid West's dilemma, as climate change heats up and California's State Water Project, along with Lake Mead and Lake Powell, shrivels due to reduced snowmelt and rainfall? Plus, the federal report found the water would be of much lower quality than other western water sources. By Brittney J. Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette. 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.