Lake Travis is 61% Empty - Austin Water Supply Alternatives (Houston: vs, estate)

[centralaustinite]

The costs are just too high! Eventually, water availability rather than warm weather with constant AC will push people back into the old river cities.

We may not live to see it (think of native Austinites in their 80s who can't believe how the town has grown) but in 100 years abundant water will have revitalized places like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Memphis, Louisville, St. Louis. etc.

You can count on it because the costs of moving people -- even entire cities -- is less than moving water.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

Mikey65, it's good to see that I am not crazy, because I have been saying this for YEARS. This country needs to install a network of viaducts that are capable of pumping water from areas that are flooding into areas that are drought stricken. It's not rocket science. Ancient Rome had these viaducts! If ancient Rome can do it, why can't we?

This, coupled with a comprehensive rainwater harvesting program would provide more than enough water for everybody!

Great minds think alike, I guess.

20yrsinBranson

Absolutely not! The Great Lakes have joined together to form an agreement to prevent this potential type of idiocy from happening. The semi-arid West will just have to accept limited resources and adapt better water management policies to reflect that they do not have available water like the East.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by love roses

Or buy your rice from another State, keep it in the USA

I prefer to buy US Ag too for various reasons, but when Texmati is twice the price as Indian Basmati I have to take the more economic route. But the price difference also makes me think that we don't have the ideal conditions for rice production or in other words you can subsidize something to death to make a product but those dollars are probably better spent elsewhere.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

Mikey65, it's good to see that I am not crazy, because I have been saying this for YEARS. This country needs to install a network of viaducts that are capable of pumping water from areas that are flooding into areas that are drought stricken. It's not rocket science. Ancient Rome had these viaducts! If ancient Rome can do it, why can't we?

This, coupled with a comprehensive rainwater harvesting program would provide more than enough water for everybody!

Great minds think alike, I guess.

20yrsinBranson

The issue is how do you do it in a way that makes it cost effective. The times you need it are few and far between and I bet dont even come close to justifying the cost.

The real limiting factor is energy. Once we have unlimited cheap energy we can purify our waste water. It isnt that we dont have enough water we dont have enough drinkable water.

For example we could purify our waste water and dump it right back into lake travis for holding purposes.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by Austin97

The issue is how do you do it in a way that makes it cost effective. The times you need it are few and far between and I bet dont even come close to justifying the cost.

The real limiting factor is energy. Once we have unlimited cheap energy we can purify our waste water. It isnt that we dont have enough water we dont have enough drinkable water.

For example we could purify our waste water and dump it right back into lake travis for holding purposes.

We are currently purifying our wastewater and dumping most of it into the Colorado River downstream of Austin. Some of our wastewater is being reused in area industrial plants and for watering golf courses. Other municipalities downstream of Austin are using Colorado River water, including our wastewater, in their municipal water supplies, where it is further filtered before reuse.

[capcat]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Absolutely not! The Great Lakes have joined together to form an agreement to prevent this potential type of idiocy from happening. The semi-arid West will just have to accept limited resources and adapt better water management policies to reflect that they do not have available water like the East.

As we have always accepted, I might add. No one has encroached on your (I'm guessing it is yours) water rights. However, those new to the area may have to adjust the same way that Texans always have.

[Trainwreck20]

we don't have the ideal conditions for rice production

Correct, we pay our workers way too much compared to the foreign rice workers, very non-ideal for rice production .

As for piping and redistributing water, that is almost never a good idea, especially across long-distance and different ecological regions. The 'excess' water (from our perspective) is almost never 'excess' to the ecological system downstream - it is usually part of a natural cycle. The massive water movement in the west from the mountains to the coast is hopefully the last large-scale water project we every see.

Desalination is viable, but expensive - both for operation and transport; however, it could be done, especially if the power was generated from, say, wind or wave power. Water could be desalinated on an 'as available' power basis and pumped to the lakes for storage.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Correct, we pay our workers way too much compared to the foreign rice workers, very non-ideal for rice production .

As for piping and redistributing water, that is almost never a good idea, especially across long-distance and different ecological regions. The 'excess' water (from our perspective) is almost never 'excess' to the ecological system downstream - it is usually part of a natural cycle. The massive water movement in the west from the mountains to the coast is hopefully the last large-scale water project we every see.

Desalination is viable, but expensive - both for operation and transport; however, it could be done, especially if the power was generated from, say, wind or wave power. Water could be desalinated on an 'as available' power basis and pumped to the lakes for storage.

Well if US workers are more productive with their bigger salaries it will still be economically viable to do here, but this is the case for all industries in the developed world when it competes against the lower salaries in the undeveloped world.

And yes deslalination of ocean water is very expensive and requires a lot of energy.

[CptnRn]

Even though its not raining in Austin yet, its nice to see some rain today in the Colorado River watershed.

[centralaustinite]

yes, that is just what my kids say when the showers miss us: "at least someplace in Texas got some rain!"