Mighty Miss may solve western water woes

During the Rio Grande Inter Basin Roundtable session on Tuesday, Gunnison hay farmer Gary Hausler presented a 1,200-mile $22.5 billion proposal that would take the heat off the San Luis Valley and the West Slope to provide water for Colorado’s burgeoning Front Range cities and thirsty downstream states. Hausler proposed an innovative if not ambitious project that he admitted would not be completed in his lifetime, even if it began tomorrow - a pipeline from the Mississippi River to Colorado. “The Mississippi provides a huge source of unused water,” he said. “It provides more water than can be used.” Hausler proposed that Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska form a new interstate compact, the Central Plains Compact, that would run 1,200 miles of 22-inch diameter pipe from the Mississippi River at a point near Hickman, Kentucky, to Colorado at a point between Denver and Colorado Springs on Monument Hill. The pipeline would include laterals along the way to provide water to all of the states between the river and the Rockies. Hausler estimated the cost of the project at $22.5 billion including permits, rights of way (possibly through eminent domain), engineering and construction. He also estimated the project would span 30 years from idea to construction with about 10 years spent on forming the compact, another 10 years on permits and 10 years on the construction itself. Hausler has a mining and heavy construction background in addition to a stint in corporate finance before becoming a hay farmer and rancher near Gunnison...Alamosa Valley Courier