Mississippi River Discharge Volume

Last week I was sitting with two of my sons in a car in a parking lot in a rainstorm in the Mississippi River catchment area. Watching the paved surface gather the water into a drain, I thought that 250 years ago the natural lot would have absorbed some of what was becoming stream volume. Therefore, a similar rainstorm back then would have raised river levels less than what was happening today.

However, comma, there were just a few thousand people in my state back then whereas now there are 11 million. We all take water out of the system to keep ourselves alive and perform our daily functions.

So which is it? Is the volume of output at the mouth of the Mississippi River higher now than it was in 1772? My gut tells me it's higher now because of paved surfaces. But that's just a guess. I have no idea.