Monday Hypothetical re: Miss. River

The earth’s rotation would slow down by 0.0456 seconds

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The earth’s rotation would slow down by 0.0350 seconds

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FIFY.

Hypothetically... how damn big is this damn dam?

You would flood a shite ton of land

Would be interesting to see the rise in all of the smaller rivers & streams that the Ms. River feeds. Then the lakes & reserves & so on. Fresh water supplies would be significantly increased & could lead to bountiful farming in many "new" areas.
Additionally, to see the effects on all of the sediment typically carried down into LA along the current route would interest me.

Since there isn’t a canyon or a gorge to build a dam against, I’m not sure if this is even a reasonable conversation.

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and the Mississippi River would just quit flowing huh? No more water...

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I know, you would have a lake and after it was filled you would have the same amount of water flowing down the channel.

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What would happen if we built a damn somewhere north of LA? Say perhaps Memphis or even St. Louis.

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There are already 25 dams on the upper MS River. 4 are in Missouri with one being just north of St Louis.

I'll play along given that the initial point of this is being hypothetical...


What about piping the water to areas of the country in dire need of fresh water?
Filter the waters along the way. Feed is across the dusty plains states & down over to the deserts of NM & AZ. Create an entire new region of agricultural & residential opportunities.

Is the Ms River too filthy in the lower half to build hydroelectric dams that still allow flow down to the Gulf?

Actually, less.

Evaporation of reservoir lakes is a major thing.

Better question is what happens to all the sediment. .