Filling Lake Mead with Mississippi River Water No Longer a Pipe Dream
Posted on: February 7, 2023, 02:30h.
Last updated on: February 10, 2023, 10:54h.
Despite recent rains, the water level in Lake Mead – which supplies Las Vegas with 90% of its water – was 1,046.94 feet above sea level on Feb. 2. That’s only 28% of its full capacity. And cutting water use, even drastically, may not solve the problem.
Because of climate change, some estimates predict that the Colorado River may deliver only half its current amount of water by the year 2100.
Pumping Mississippi River water into Lake Mead has been suggested before. But as water levels drop – threatening to eventually cut off California, Arizona, and Mexico from their Colorado River water allotments – and as engineering technology advances, large-scale river diversion doesn’t seem as much of a pipe dream as it once did.
In 2021, the Arizona state legislature actually passed a measure urging Congress to investigate pumping flood water from the Mississippi to the Colorado to boost its flow. Studies show that a project like this would be possible, though it would take decades of construction and billions of dollars. Maybe even trillions.
“I think it would be foolhardy to dismiss it as not feasible,” Richard Rood, professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan, told the Cedar Rapids Gazette. “But we need to know a lot more about it than we currently do.”
Large-scale river diversion projects have been proposed in the US since the 1960s when an American company sought to redistribute Alaskan water across the continent using canals and reservoirs. That plan never generated enough support – a fate shared by similar proposals in Minnesota and Iowa.
Still Too Pricey … For Now
In 2012, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation performed a Colorado River Basin analysis considering several solutions to the current drought – including importing water from the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.
Under the analyzed scenario, water would be diverted to Colorado’s Front Range and areas of New Mexico. That 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.
A decade later, Roger Viadero, an environmental scientist and engineer at Western Illinois University, calculated that moving this scale of water would require a pipe 88 feet in diameter – twice as long as a semi-trailer – or a 100-foot-wide channel that’s 61 feet deep.
“As an engineer, I can guarantee you that it is doable,” Viadero told the Cedar Rapids Gazette. “But there are tons of things that can be done but aren’t ever done.”
Viadero’s team estimated the cost of buying enough water to fill up the Colorado River’s Lake Mead and Lake Powell at more than $134 billion, assuming a penny per gallon. Add to that heavy construction costs and the costs of powering the equipment needed to pump the water over the Western Continental Divide. Buying the land to secure water rights would be very costly, too.
Politics: The Other Problem
The political hurdles are also considerable. They include wetlands protections, endangered species protections, drinking water supply considerations, and interstate shipping protections. Precedents set by other diversion attempts – such as the ones that created the Great Lakes Compact, also cast doubt over the political viability of any large-scale Mississippi River diversion attempt.
And transnational pipelines would also impact ecological resources. Lower Mississippi River flow means less sediment carried down to Louisiana, where it’s needed for coastal restoration. Diverting that water also means spreading problems, like pollutants, excessive nutrients, and invasive species such as Asian carp.
None of this even considers the most important question: Is there even enough water to spare? The Mississippi River basin may no longer be a reliable answer to the Colorado River basin’s problem since the Mississippi is drying up, too. Water levels are at or below the low-water threshold along a nearly 400-mile stretch of the river. This past year, sunken boats, such as the Diamond Lady riverboat casino, are surfacing like bodies are in Lake Mead.
“No one wants to leave the western states without water,” Melissa Scanlan, a freshwater sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, told the Cedar Rapids Gazette. “But moving water from one drought-impacted area to another is not a solution.”
Growing Precedent
Still, there is hope. Last year, a Kansas groundwater management agency received a permit to truck 6,000 gallons of Missouri River water into Kansas and Colorado to recharge an aquifer. Several approved diversions already drain water from the Great Lakes. And 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. And there
In July 2022, former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation investing $1.2 billion into projects that conserve water and bring more into the state. Among its provisions, the law granted Arizona’s water infrastructure finance authority to “investigate the feasibility” of potential out-of-state water import agreements.
And, as the tired adage goes, desperate times call for desperate measures. According to a two-year projection by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, by the end of July 2024, Lake Mead’s water level could fall to as low as 992 feet above sea level. That’s perilously close to a dead pool (895 feet), the point when a reservoir is so low gravity will no longer allow it to release water downstream. If and when Lake Mead hits this point, that will be dire news for downstream regions, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Tucson, and Mexico.
“It’s possible that the situation gets so dire that there is an amount of money out there that could overcome all of these obstacles,” Rhett Larson, an Arizona State University professor of water law, told the Cedar Rapids Gazette. “It might be in the trillions, but it probably does exist.”
In the meantime, researchers encourage more feasible and sustainable options, such as better water conservation, water recycling, and less agricultural reliance.
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Last Comments ( 177 )
Here's a novel idea. Quit building homes in areas where water is projected to run out or become scarce. Do you think politicians can do that? No, I don't. Here's another idea. Close down our southern border and stop anyone from entering. If we cant provide enough adequate water for our own citizens, why are we allowing more people here? And for those people that think the desalination plants are the answer, think again. The salt that's removed from ocean water is hazardous waste. Where do you expect it to be disposed at? It cannot go back into the ocean, it'd eventually kill all Marine life. If it's dumped on the ground, nothing will ever grow there again plus it will leach into the ground water making private wells like mine unfit for anything. Keep in mind, this drought that has caused Lake Powell and Lake Mead's water level to drop to a critical level has been going on for the past 20 years. This is not something that suddenly occured overnight, government officials have been monitoring this for two decades. It's only recently that they've started looking for a solution. We'll suffer for their failure, as usual. The answer is simple albeit not popular. Less people means less consumption. Period. Shut down the influx of migrants, deport those that don't belong here. If we don't have enough water to drink, there won't be any fruit for them to pick anyways! Cutting off CA entirely would save American lives in Arizona and Nevada, not sure if any Americans exist in CA anymore. I have to water my lawn now...
The answer is simple, CONSERVE. Humans waste water, the only need for water is farming and human use. NO POOLS, NO LAWNS, NO CAR WASHING, NO STREET CLEANING, ETC. And, limit use to 10 gallons per day per person. It is easeily doable. My wife and I lived on our boat, cooking, dishes, shower daily and laundry, we could make out 150 gallons of onboard water last 12 days no problem. WE DIDN'T WASTE ANY, THAT IS THE ANSWER!
Salt water it the answer. Clean it up for drinking and salt roads back east instead of mining the salt.
Why go all the way from the Mississippi...instead go from the Columbia River to the Flaming Gorge reservoir...the Columbia River water goes out to the ocean, now....the rest of the.water delivery system is already in place: Green River, Lake Powell, Lake Mead, Lake Havasu, through to Mexico...use a water pipeline from the Columbia River to the Flaming Gorge reservoir...not a trivial or inexpensive capital project, but necessary....Tom
Desalination could work sell the salt to the east coast and midwest states for the roads during the winter months 2problems solved
I've got an idea, quit filling swimming pools, golf courses and all the other recreational crap that takes so much water, people don't need that to survive. Taking more water from the agricultural industry is going to create an even larger food shortage than we already have so that's a terrible idea, but I will also say Arizona needs to gets some pumping regulations in place for the farmers there, from what I have read they have no regulations and can pump freely. That is not very good planning for water use. We have pumping restrictions here in Colorado and it works. California can capture runoff that they get from the rains received but they just let it run into the ocean instead. Using the drought as an excuse for the water shortage in the western states is a total copout, it is all caused by poor decisions made by the politicians and the people. Diverting water from the Mississippi and Missouri rivers is just going to cause unnecessary drought in several other areas of the nation, that's not a good plan. Point is, there is no reason for all the golf courses, water parks, swimming pools and hot tubs in everyone's backyards, etc using water other than for selfish pleasure, it is not a necessity. Quit building the cities bigger and bigger, that all requires massive amounts of water. If the people and the politicians would make better choices it wouldn't even be an issue.
Watching this happen just makes me sick. As a kid river trips lake trips to Lake Mead best memories I have. In my family it was right of passage to get your own boat to make your first trip without your parents cousins your children all with you having a blast. Wasted water through California and every other state pulling from the river no one cares. I just don't get why I watch Israel get their water right out of the ocean and filter it and they don't have a problem and they're in the middle of a desert you have California sitting right here with all this water going to waste that can have the same equipment pumping water wherever the hell it's needed and we don't do it. At the rate it's going my kids won't be able to take their kids to the lakes rivers because it's the way the world is turned very sad very simple solution folks very simple all that water sitting there going to waste filter it send it whatever need to get it done.
Look at where the headwaters of the Missouri River is located. Then look at how close that is to the green river which eventually enters the Colorado River. This makes way more sense to look at this as a project.
When ever there are clouds over lake mead. nevada and Arizona air national guard fighters could make supersonic passes above or below the clouds to bump the moisture molecules together to make it rain. Sending several in a row could have significant reactions from the clouds.
Why the Mississippi? Why not the Columbia? It's closer and seems to have a larger volume of water.
Tampa Bay currently has the biggest desalination plant in the US and they don't have problems with the salt. Problem solved. Problem is the west coast has already dried up plenty of aquifers and are out of options.
Just one more way to totally destroy nature's ecosystems. No surprise there as humans have so much.
This is easy to solve. Stop using Colorado River water to grow alfalfa in Southern California to sell it to China and Japan. Alfalfa requires more water than just about any other crop.
Interesting to read thanks for sharing
Climate Change is a political weapon and not the problem. Massive population gain in the Southwest and increased water needs are. Temperatures and rain levels in the west have not changed. This problem can and will only be solved by Nuclear Power and Desalination Plants and to anyone paying attention, this is how it will be solved. The technology is much better now and getting better. It is I n use today in the Middle East and other places. The Liberals are going to need another Avenue in their insatiable need to control people. If you are paying attention, Climate Change and Socialism go hand in hand. Also, if you are paying attention, Socialism is a failure world wide and American Patriots will never let the failed system take hold in the United States!