Is moving columbia river water to california a good idea? (Hanford: to live, pool)

[David Pierro]

I think that most people who know much about California realize that the large population, which keeps
growing and growing, together with existing and expanding farming operations have placed an intolerable strain upon the renewable water supply. Consequently, even in good water years (those with high precipitation) the water table of our central California wells keep dropping. I grew up on a little farm in central California where there were artesian wells in the early part of the 20th century. Now our little farm with a well depth of 600' is dwarfed by the wells of the horde of big wells surrounding our little farm; typically these wells go down 1200' or more. Neither our farm nor the farms of many of the farmers in the area have access to surface water supplies. As farmers from our area and farmers in areas where wells are not so deep keeping pumping to supplant the decreasing amounts of surface water (California Aqueduct and Central Valley Project waters) permitted them, the water table and the land itself keep dropping. This unfavorable water table and land subsidence continues even in years of average precipitation.
How long this type of inexorable dropping of water table and land can continue who can predict? But it's a bad trend -- very bad. Since the early 1960s I have read with interest ideas of how to get water from the Columbia River to California. The first I proposal I recall was to run a 17' diameter nylon pipe (perhaps PVC plastics hadn't been invented or weren't widely known then) from near the mouth of the Columbia River down the coast, presumably along the seabed, to California. I liked the idea then; and I still think that such a pipeline or one or more similar to it is feasible and desirable. Of course we must take into account the needs of the people of Wasington and Oregon. Surely our politicians can think of one or more ways to show the people of all states involved that one or more such aqueduct pipes from the Columbia River to California would be a win - win plan.

[NewbiePoster]

First of all, you'd have to talk to WA and OR about that, and get them to ok it. Good luck. They might agree to it if it's on an annual contract only.

Secondly, it's only a temp fix. Water's going to be drying up all over. WA and OR have ranches, orchards and farms along the Columbia. They'll need the water as it becomes more scarce.

[nslander]

No.

[Tulemutt]

Right: No.

We don't have a water problem. We have a population problem.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

And a water usage problem. We need to learn to live within our means.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

And a water usage problem. We need to learn to live within our means.

Singing a duet.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

LOL. Water, water, coool cleear water, water...

By Marty Robbins:

First verse:
All day I face
the barren waste
without the taste of water,
cool water
Old Dan and I
with throats burned dry
and souls that cry
for water,
cool, clear, water

Second verse:
The nights are cool
and I'm a fool
each star's a pool of water,
cool water
And with the dawn
I wake and yawn
and carry on to water,
cool, clear, water

Chorus:
Keep a-movin' Dan,
don't you listen to him Dan,
He's a devil not a man
and he spreads the burning sand with water,
Dan can you see that big, green tree
where the water's running free
and it's waiting there for you and me,
water, cool, clear, water

Third verse:
The shadows sway and seem to say,
tonight we pray for water,
cool water
And way up there
He'll hear our prayer
and show us where there's water,
cool, clear, water

Chorus:
Keep a-movin' Dan
don't you listen to him Dan,
He's a devil not a man
and he spreads the burning sand with water
Dan can you see that big, green tree
where the water's running free
and it's waiting there for you and me
water, cool, clear, water
cool, clear, water

[Adriatica]

No, it's a terrible idea.

[TheDragonslayer]

No.

[sourdough]

I'd want the Handford waste storeage tanks issue resolved before spending a dime investigating the possibility. Those tanks next to the river are leaking already. Read about Environmental concerns
Hanford Site - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia