p.s. to everyone who wants to mine the 'extra' volume in the Mississippi. That water used to nourish the soils annually, but we've reined it in with the levees. Now, it at least helps to recharge aquifers, and it plays a role in wetlands, and washes out silting-up channels, yada yada. And its large normal flow dilutes the horrific load of nitrates coming down the pike from the breadbasket states, which is causing the dead zone in the Gulf.

Even if were desirable to transport the spring highwater elsewhere, the cost to clean, ship, and store that water would be fairly grandiose.

There's a witches brew in that water, there are thousands of compounds to clean up, from atrazine to caffeine. Better for desert communities to go local 'toilet-to-tap', or trap more rainwater in recharge basins, or somehow deal with their own local water problems. Just my opinion. We have got to get away from wanting to ship in the solution (via diesel-sucking trucks or pipelines) to our problems instead of solving them locally.