“There is a little problem with this approach. It is known as the Rocky Mountains.”
Tesla can bore a tunnel through those. Just kidding but am wondering if Lake Powell is at higher elevation than the lower Mississippi.
I think an aquaduct from the rainy northwest would be cheaper.
Denver already has multiple bores through the Rocky mountains to access Colorado River basin water they take more than Las Vegas does from the Colorado River basin on an annual acre foot too acre foot basis. Denver takes water from a tributary of the Colorado River pumps it slightly uphill then into a tunnel bored right through the mountain divide and let’s gravity then flow it out of the Colorado River basin into Denver’s gaping maw of water use. People don’t understand how watersheds work as is clearly evident by the idiot’s saying you need 1500+ miles of pipe directly to Lake Mead or Lake Powell. You need an aquaduct to any point inside the Colorado River basin including any one of it’s tributaries gravity will then carry any water added at that point down stream to Lake Powell if above it in the capture basin, ANYWHERE in that capture basin. To get Mississippi River water to the Colorado basin the shortest and easiest route it to go to where the Mississippi River and the Ohio River join just south of there set your divert point. That’s just south of St. Louis, from there you go directly to Denver a distance of just over 800 miles and an elevation gain of 5000 ish feet since St. Louis is already 460 MSL. Once you are at Denver you can use the existing tunnels through the Rocky mountains to access the Colorado River basin by reversing the flow that Denver already built and takes. Once you are at the other side of those tunnels it’s all gravity downhill to Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Ask the Boring Co. to use their new boring machines to bore two more larger tunnels parallel to Denver’s existing ones why parallel? Because all the geologic data is identical a feet hundred feet North or South of existing tunnels plus the Boring company has machines that are ten times cheaper than existing TBM machines that’s what they set out to do and succeeded. The Ohio River and the Mississippi River at St. Louis routinely floods there is plenty of water to send to Denver and the CO basin which is the destination no need to go all the way to Lake Powell let alone Lake Mead gravity does the work as soon as you cross the continental divide not over it through it. The same could be done from the North via Wyoming bringing Canadian and or Montana waters you just need to vote under the divide and get into the watershed.