Is the Mississippi losing water?

The Mississippi River is flowing at its lowest level in at least a decade, and until rain relieves a worsening drought in the region, it's becoming increasingly difficult to maintain water levels high enough to carry critical exports from the nation's bread basket.



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A shrinking river is hurting people and the economy in a variety of ways. Barges can't operate on the river to get goods to market. Drinking water may also be at risk – for example, salt water moving upriver from the Gulf of Mexico could impact drinking water supplies in parts of Louisiana.

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The Colorado River is drying up due to a combination of chronic overuse of water resources and a historic drought. The dry period has lasted more than two decades, spurred by a warming climate primarily due to humans burning fossil fuels.

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As crazy as it sounds, engineers say the idea is technically feasible. It would involve building a system of dams and pipelines to move the water uphill across multiple states over the Continental Divide. Gravity would then work in our favor to drop the water down to the Colorado River watershed.

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What happens if Lake Mead dries up forever? If Lake Mead were to run out of water, the Hoover Dam would no longer be able to generate power or provide water to surrounding cities and farms. The Colorado River would essentially stop flowing, and the Southwest would be in a major water crisis.

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Another way to measure the size of a river is by the amount of water it discharges. Using this measure the Mississippi River is the 15th largest river in the world discharging 16,792 cubic meters (593,003 cubic feet) of water per second into the Gulf of Mexico.

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Cultural health, sacred places, and traditional food sources are threatened along the Colorado River's Grand Canyon, Alaska's Chilkat River, and Washington's Snake River.

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