Mississippi Draining into Aquifers Instead of Flowing to the Gulf
I haven't heard anything about this before now, and don't see anything else about it where I get information from without searching it up. This is catastrophic for agriculture, the ancient ecology of the Mississippi River, and the many millions of people that live along the river. I'm sure this has happened before to the river, and time will heal it, the tougher species will survive, and people will adapt, but it could take centuries, or even millennia before the river restores it's natural bed and quits dumping into the aquifer we've been pumping dry for decades underneath it.
I'd be interested in any comments from folks that live along the Mississippi and are willing to share their understanding and potential solutions to the human catastrophe this is causing from their perspectives.
From what I can tell, the only way to really restore the natural flow of the river is to stop (and reverse) channelizing the river, allow flooding to happen seasonally, and re-engineer riverine communities and agricultural uses accordingly. Also, not sucking underground aquifers dry and instead only tap them to the degree they recharge. When we suck them up faster than they recharge, we're stealing water from our kids, and I reckon it's better for us and them if we just adapt by using surface water, such as the river, or even desalinating the gulf water, and living within our means as far as natural ecosystems and geological systems go.
Agriculture along the Mississippi is largely corporate, and I think we've got more than enough valueless factory simulated food and feed to inspire us to grow our own using aquaponics, which solves all the right problems in all the right ways to benefit all the real people concerned.
Anybody living on the Mississippi have some thoughts to share? I'd especially appreciate criticism, because nothing more quickly sets me straight than showing me I'm wrong. I hate to be wrong and make mistakes because I don't know better.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Environmentalism/comments/1qv5m82/is_mississippi_river_management_pushing_the/
https://www.reddit.com/r/mississippi/comments/1qv6ygb/mississippi_draining_into_aquifers_instead_of/
This post has been shared on Reddit by @davideownzall, @theworldaroundme through the HivePosh initiative.
Finally, I write something mostly apolitical that Reddit won't ban on sight! Thanks!
I'll be waiting for me posts to share!
Lol!
Your suggestions would mean we have reason.. and we haven't had much reason of late especially with these types of things. Pretty scary to see though!
We are only social animals with some ability to reason. I think this would be a good time to use that ability.
Thanks!
A very interesting and reflective perspective. The damage to river ecosystems is indeed the result of long-term overexploitation. Natural recovery will take time, but measures like sustainable water management and environmentally friendly farming like aquaponics could be a good start.
Coming up with new technologies doesn't do us a bit of good unless we apply them. I'm trying to think of a downside to aquaponics, but haven't yet.
Thanks!
Agreed! New technologies must be implemented to realize their benefits. So far, aquaponics seems to have more advantages than disadvantages.
Well... I don't think the river is disappearing but it is becoming less stable I think. Maybe we should be asking delta farmers around the area about how much deeper their wells have been increased every decade, and if their pump's are costing more to run. See what their PR says.
If they say something like "We’re draining the ground faster than it refills" then maybe we should be concerned.
Also an aquifer doesn't behave like a drain where you pour a river into, it's more like a saturated sponge in clay. Yes, rivers can feed aquifers. But they don’t suddenly vanish into them unless there’s something called "Karst", which is just limestone caverns, or even massive fractures in the river bed, of which I am not aware of any because I'm not from that area sor know anything about that specific river.
I just did a quick search on it and I am finding that the Mississippi river doesn't run over that kind of geology for hundreds of miles. So maybe, and I'm just guessing, dry season is really good this year.
But this is where I respect your observations the most because the river IS being dried up and my bets are on the same wavelength of you mentioned above. We are breaking the system. We are stealing from the future. We have engineered out natural buffers. We do lie to ourselves with tech fantasies.
So I agree with your sentiments as I find them to be common sense. We should allow more flooding to happen and consider overpumping as theft of natural resources. If we can keep a non negotiable extraction and keep it maintained to living within recharge rates, we should be fine, IMHO.
Where I think the image itself misleads is in scale. It makes it look like the river itself is being drained underground, when what’s really happening is we’ve cut off the floodplain and overpumped the sponge beneath it.
The river still reaches the Gulf, but it’s lost its ability to heal the land on the way there. Giving it that look of despair.
Your solutions point in the right direction. We just have to match tools to the size of the problem. But I'll leave that to the people most qualified for that. I'm just shooting my two cents from my own observations.
The water level in the underlying aquifer has been lowered by ~10M. That's where the Mississippi is going. The pic above well shows the reduction in flow and water reaching the Gulf.
The bed has been eroded away and fluidized, allowing the Mississippi to supply the depleted aquifer below it rather than deliver water into the Gulf. The video well explains the physical processes that have caused this to happen.
It's been a good year for precipitation. The river bed has been destroyed by channelization and flood control structures for decades, and suddenly the river broke through and began pouring into the aquifer below it.
That's exactly what's happened. The volume of water flowing downstream reduced by ~half in three days, at a point upstream from St. Louis where the riverbed was finally punched through.
Thanks!
I admit I haven't seen the video yet. But from what you say is very startling revelation for us all. Thank you for keeping us informed!
Dear @valued-customer !
I remember Oregon being 1800 miles from the Mississippi River, so I'm surprised you're worried about the Mississippi River!😃
I wonder what your relationship is with the Mississippi River!
I'm looking at a map of the United States showing the distance between you and the Mississippi River! I'm truly overwhelmed by the vastness of the American continent!
I live in a small country, so it's hard for me to understand the thoughts of people who live in a vast continent like you!
My guess is that you're claiming that if the aquifers of the North American continent dry up, the American ecosystem will be destroyed!
I agree with you, because the Mississippi River has been severely damaged for corporate profits for a long time!
I believe that if American companies restore the damaged ecosystem of the Mississippi River, the problem you are worried about will be solved!
My respected elder bro, @valued-customer !
I have a hard time guessing your thoughts, which are as vast as the North American continent!😆
I can only understand that you love America very much!
I hope your health and long life!
Because American states are federalized, my family is spread across the breadth of N. America. I have traveled from Alaska to Texas, from the E. coast to the West several times. Also, the Mississippi is one of the most fecund and robust riverine ecosystems in the world, and a functional component of the ecologies and economies of most of the American states. I care deeply about ecology, the environment, and America, so such a horrific catastrophe striking the heart of America greatly disturbs me.
You well understand what is most important to me.
Thanks!