"The Missouri River is running out of water." and what that means

[donsu]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/07/drop_in_big_muddy_roils_nations_midsection?mode=PF


Drop in Big Muddy roils nation's midsection


Montana and the western halves of South Dakota and North Dakota remain locked in a drought that in some parts of the region is heading into a seventh consecutive year. The river that millions of people rely on for electricity, drinking water, irrigation, shipping, and recreation is drying up.

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Utility officials have raised rates for electricity because the hydropower dams on the river are generating two-thirds of their usual capacity. Coal-fired and nuclear plants need cool water from the river to meet environmental regulations and run efficiently. There is serious talk about the potential for power shortages and blackouts.

Meanwhile, communities are spending millions of dollars to relocate water-supply pipes that extend into the river. Some boat ramps are closed, and wildlife departments have spent millions to extend and relocate those that remain open to preserve access to still-beautiful lakes. Some agricultural irrigators have given up chasing water and have shut off their pumps. And because not enough water is flowing into the reservoirs in the spring to match demand for power generation and navigation, fish reproduction has suffered.

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The potential impact doesn't end there. The Missouri feeds into the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis, and it helps supply enough water for barges to negotiate an especially difficult segment of the latter waterway. As the Missouri's flow lessens, potential trouble looms for shipping on the much busier Mississippi, from the grain mills of Minnesota to the world port at New Orleans.
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and the world's glaciers are melting

Iraqis can't use their own seeds to grow food but must use US corp. seeds that won't renew themselves

america, the country that tortures

[AllegroRondo]

1. There was a big catch 22 about that last year

one part of the government, the EPA I think, ordered the flow on the Missouri to be kept low for several months so that certain birds could nest and reproduce. Meanwhile, the Corps of Engineers ordered that the flow be kept high for barge traffic. Both went through two different courts and returned different court orders, with the agency in charge of the dams stuck in the middle.