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Rancher proposes water pipeline from Missouri to Colorado

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 23, 2009 at 7:17 am

From the Durango Herald:

At first, Gary Hausler’s idea sounds like a practical joke. The Gunnison rancher wants to build an 18-foot-wide water pipeline from the Mississippi River to a hill south of Denver and bring in enough water for millions more people.

But it’s no joke. Some state lawmakers are intrigued by the idea.

“Why go to the Mississippi? Because that’s where the water is,” Hausler told the Legislature’s agriculture committees Wednesday.

Hausler has a lot of water in mind – 1 million acre-feet a year, about twice the annual flow of the Dolores River at the Utah border. He has been working on his plan for eight years, but in the last six months or so, people have started listening.

If Colorado doesn’t build it, its rapid population growth will continue to dry up farms, he said. “When I started out, people laughed in my face a lot. That doesn’t happen near as much now,” Hausler said.

Colorado’s population is expected to grow by 2 million more people by 2030, creating a need for an additional 630,000 acre-feet of water. So what’s he got in mind?

His numbers are staggering: a 1,200-mile-long system with a 7,000-foot vertical lift; numerous reservoirs and canals; an 18-foot-diameter pipeline; and the equivalent of three new power plants to run the pumps. Hausler thinks it would take 30 years to permit and build, and he admits it wouldn’t do anything to solve short-term water troubles.

He envisions a Central Plains Compact among Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri to set the legal framework for the project.

Not that Hauser has actually talked to anyone in those states about it…. Read more from the Durango Herald by clicking here.

March 23, 2009 · Filed Under Grandiose water plans

Comments

2 Responses to “Rancher proposes water pipeline from Missouri to Colorado”

  1. WaterSource on March 23rd, 2009 8:18 am

    Colorado too can receive a million acre feet a year by exchange, if they too want to cooperate & coordinate efforts ….

    CA, NV and even CO certainly need Drought Insurance and a Drought Water Bank.

    The banks (existing storage facilities) are already built and most are only half full !

    Why not store a million acre feet of real NON-TRIBUTARY fresh water EACH YEAR from a Source that is ALREADY legally available, economically feasible and can be developed without damage to the environment or the water rights of anyone, anywhere !

    Yes, such a FRESH WATER Source does in fact exist.

    It’s NON-TRIBUTARY aspect legally allows water developed from it complete flexibility in the region’s multi-faceted complex distribution and delivery systems.

    The reason for the flexibility is because there will be NO HARM to existing water rights, entitlements, Court rulings or environmental flows !

    Development of the new fresh water Source and associated infrastructure will provide the greatest returns in achieving economic recovery, tremendous JOB GROWTH, greater efficiency and farm productivity.

    With cooperation & coordination of efforts, it Is also possible to develop the Source so that no power will be required to move the water.

    The infrastructure also be designed to deal with the quagga mussel problem .

    “The laughter of fools has always been the reward of any man who comes up with a new thought.”

    Ray Walker (Retired Water Rights Analyst) waterrdw@yahoo.com

  2. dfb on March 23rd, 2009 11:31 pm

    Ray, your message is too cryptic. What banks already exist? and how does it not take power to move the water.

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