[HN Gopher] Barge traffic halted on Mississippi River by lowest ...
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       Barge traffic halted on Mississippi River by lowest water levels in
       a decade
        
       Author : rntn
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2022-10-08 17:27 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (lite.cnn.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (lite.cnn.com)
        
       | pasttense01 wrote:
       | Not just barges:
       | 
       | Viking cruise ship can't finish voyage because Mississippi River
       | is too low
       | 
       | https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/viking-cruise-low-water-m...
        
       | akomtu wrote:
       | Looks like we are well positioned for the upcoming year. I was
       | worried we're running out of disasters and cataclysms by the end
       | of the year.
        
         | deepsun wrote:
         | Well, the biggest one is war, and it's nowhere near "running
         | out". In afraid it will spill off to the rest of the world
         | eventually.
        
         | bitwize wrote:
         | There's a haboob hitting the California desert as well! So,
         | we're pretty well stocked on disasters.
        
           | klyrs wrote:
           | TIL https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haboob
        
         | tuatoru wrote:
         | Yep, the Strategic Disaster Reserve is well topped up.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | protomyth wrote:
       | A lot of people don't realize how much is transported down the
       | river systems in the US. This is not good since they are delayed
       | and this is going to have effects down the rest of the chain.
       | Another thing adding to prices is not good.
        
       | Vvector wrote:
       | Yet the West wants to "solve" their drought by shipping
       | Mississippi over the Rockies. Maybe just stop farming water-
       | intensive crops in the desert?
        
         | Maursault wrote:
         | It'll be fine. We can restore the Mississippi with excess fresh
         | water piped in from Florida.
        
         | stjohnswarts wrote:
         | Whenever I bring this point up to my friends out west they get
         | unduly angry and say there's plenty of water, everyone just
         | needs to conserve although like 70-80% of it goes to
         | agriculture
        
           | tracerbulletx wrote:
           | Are your friends all farmers? Because everyone out here in
           | the cities would be perfectly happy reducing agricultural
           | usage.
        
             | twelve40 wrote:
             | no, but a lot of people here are just hellbent on
             | "conserving" a glass of water at a restaurant, even though
             | human consumption is almost negligible compared to
             | agriculture. I guess it makes them feel like they are
             | making an impact. And yes, they do get very angry if anyone
             | questions the logic behind that behavior.
        
             | Turing_Machine wrote:
             | > Because everyone out here in the cities would be
             | perfectly happy reducing agricultural usage.
             | 
             | At least until the food stops showing up at the store.
             | 
             | But by then it will be too late.
        
         | gerikson wrote:
         | To be fair, while it's a bonkers idea, the plan would be to
         | divert water from the Old River Control Structure to lessen the
         | flow of water down the Achafalaya. This issue is further
         | upstream.
        
         | downvotetruth wrote:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32459622
        
           | Vvector wrote:
           | But the idea keeps popping up.
           | 
           | https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2022/08/14/.
           | ..
           | 
           | https://grist.org/agriculture/drought-water-pipeline-cost-
           | we...
           | 
           | https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/08/15/climat.
           | ..
        
             | downvotetruth wrote:
             | Yellow Journalism; North American Water and Power Authority
             | Plan is mentioned in the USA link
        
               | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2022-10-08 23:01 UTC)