Pumping Mississippi River water west: solution or dream?

By BRITTNEY J. MILLER, Cedar Rapids Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Amid a major drought in the Western U.S., a proposed solution comes up repeatedly: large-scale river diversions, including pumping Mississippi River water to parched states. Just this past summer, the idea caused a firestorm of letters to the editor at a California newspaper. In 2021, the Arizona state legislature passed a measure urging Congress to investigate pumping flood water from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River to bolster its flow. Studies and modern-day engineering have proven that such projects are possible but would require decades of construction and billions of dollars. Politics are an even bigger obstacle to make multi-state pipelines a reality. Yet their persistence in the public sphere illustrates the growing desperation of Western states.