Drought Threatens Shipping on Mississippi River

[NickB79]

7. The main problem is lack of water flow altogether

Allowing the river to run it's natural course doesn't really address that. The Army Corp. of Engineers has shut every dam they can find in the northern plains states to conserve water for spring and summer irrigation, because everyone paying attention to the water situation now knows that, short of torrential rains in the spring, we're in for another year of crippling drought in the nation's breadbasket. Due to global warming, we may now be entering a period of persistent drought conditions, or at least much more frequent drought years than we used to have.

We now get to make the awful decision about whether we use the water we have to support the economy now, or save it to grow food later.