Even as drought-stricken Midwestern states squabble over diminishing water supplies in the region, a new federal-state study raises the idea of constructing a 670-mile pipeline to divert water from one of the Mississippi’s major tributaries to help seven arid states in the West.
The Associated Press reports that for two years, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming have been considering ways to provide more water for the growing populations in the West. A plan scheduled for release later this month will include a proposal for a pipeline to ship water west from the Missouri River, along with a number of less ambitious options.
The pipeline proposal, which would cost an estimated $11.2 billion and take 30 years to complete, is expected to intensify the debate over how to ease one growing region’s shortages without harming the interests of others.
Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Dan DuBray said the pipeline idea is in the very early stages, a long way from reality.
“The idea of constructing conveyances to move water resources between other basins and the Colorado has been raised before and was once again submitted as an idea in this process,” DuBray said. He said the proposal will be evaluated, but that the agency doesn’t view it as “among the most practical or cost-effective proposals submitted.”
Any plan for diverting significant amounts of water from the Missouri would encounter opposition from some in the Midwest given the drought and competition for water resources.
