Monday, May 16, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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Proposals to take needed Colorado River water from watersheds such as the Columbia and Missouri river systems are not feasible.
These water systems also suffer from droughts, and northwest farmers depending on the Columbia system for irrigation are always at risk, as is barge traffic on the Missouri River.
Do not be misled by floods. The Missouri River flow of 14 acre-feet per second during the 1993 flood was more than six times the average flow.
If Colorado River water is ever supplemented, it must be from the Mississippi River, preferably below its confluence with the Ohio River, where the combined average flow is on the order of 10 acre-feet per second, or 300 million acre-feet per year.
