Mississippi River Water for Texas?

The impact of removing 12,000,000 acre-ft annually from the Mississippi River for export to the High Plains of Texas was studied by a mathematical model that utilized the daily discharge of the river for the 1928–1967 period as its basis. Constraints were the salinity of the River at Port Sulphur and New Orleans, available reservoir storage in Texas, and rates of diversion ranging from 18,000 to 28,000 cfs. A diversion rate of at least 24,000 cfs was found necessary in order to reduce the duration of diversion. Diversion at a lesser rate and longer period would increase the number of days of abnormally salty river water at New Orleans. The total annual cost of water is estimated to be between $72 and $114 per-acre-ft delivered.