Mayors of cities along the Mississippi River have been pushing for a Mississippi River Compact, an agreement that would coordinate policies among the 10 states that the river runs through.
ABC News reported that members of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative expressed concerns about the river at their annual meeting with federal officials in March.
Strains on the river include drought conditions, which decrease water levels, and a growing demand for water and energy due to AI data centers, among other factors. Additionally, tensions in the Middle East have increased fuel prices, which affect transportation costs along the river.
These mayors warned that protecting the Mississippi River is more than an environmental concern. The river system is vital to the U.S. economy and global agriculture.
The Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy researches and tends to legislative needs regarding water issues.
Haley Gentry, assistant director of the Institute, said she has been working on a project that details the water policies, or lack thereof, in each of the 10 states along the river.
She explained the difficulty with coordinating water policies across multiple states.
“We have 50 states with 50 different water laws,” Gentry said.
Each state along the river has a different degree of water management for surface ground water. Gentry added that some states do not regulate water use at all.
“It would be really helpful if we knew how much water needed to be at the river at which point to serve all the needs it has, but we don’t have that information because states regulate and monitor this to varying degrees,” Gentry said.
Only a few water systems in the country, like the Delaware River and the Great Lakes, are governed by interstate compacts. Gentry explained that for there to be a Mississippi River Compact, each state involved would have to pass its own law, and then Congress would have to ratify it.
She said it would be difficult to get 10 states to agree to fundamental water flows or water pollution standards, especially in the current political environment.
Louisiana is one of the states that does not have many water regulations. Gentry explained that eastern states have not had to be as careful with water use as dryer western states.
According to ABC, the MRCTI said that water-scarce regions in the West like Arizona and Nevada are looking at the Mississippi River Basin for future water supply. However, moving water is risky.
LSU oceanography and coastal sciences professor Matthew Hiatt elaborated on the challenges of potentially moving water from the basin.
He said the water would have to be pumped through a pipeline spanning several states. That process would be expensive, energy-intensive and require interstate regulatory frameworks.
Hiatt added that pumping water from one basin to another limits the ability of the basin from which water is being pumped to deal with low water. Louisiana is at the downstream end of the basin and sees the effects of droughts in northern states.
Hiatt said low water on the river can cause issues with navigation and saltwater intrusion towards New Orleans.
However, Hiatt said the river should be rising now as rainfall increases throughout the spring.
He said that climate change will likely lead to more extremes, though, like higher floods and drier droughts.
“I think with persistent droughts and also frequent flooding, there needs to be more coordinated management because states can’t really do a lot on their own,” Gentry said.
