The Mississippi River is recovering from drought conditions and current and projected weather forecasts state more favorable conditions into the future.
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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.
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.
Increased swings between extreme lows and highs on the Mississippi River, driven by climate change, mean that typical water conditions are no longer the norm, and that river transport is likely to face more backups in the future.
The worst-ever dry period occurred in the late 1500s. However, the dry years of 2021 and 2022 exceeded the 1500's drought length. This means the last 22 years are the driest in 1,200 years.
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.
Over the years, a proposed solution has come up again and again: large-scale water diversions, including pumping Mississippi River water to the parched west.
Downstream of St. Louis, the Mississippi River is free flowing all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River also provides an important source of water for drinking, cooling, recreation, and fish and wildlife.
Hoover Dam, a concrete-arch gravity dam, captures water from the Colorado River and fills Lake Mead. At capacity (1,221.4 feet above sea level), the lake is the nation's largest reservoir, able to contain 28.9 million acre-feet of water covering about 248 square miles.
Seven states and 30 Native American tribes lie in the Colorado River Basin. As we first reported in 2021, the river has been running dry due to the historically severe drought. The majestic, meandering Colorado River that cut through these red cliffs, carving the Grand Canyon, is a wonder of nature and human ingenuity.