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Old 05-05-2010, 11:12 AM
 
148 posts, read 222,941 times
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"Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink". Our heavily populated coastal regions don't rely enough on de-salination, and our interior regions don't rely enough on conservation. Everything is always a quick fix. The west needs a hundred year, comprehensive plan.

On a side note, there have been metropolitan areas that have been abandoned due to lack of water, just not American. Thousands of years ago, Egypt experienced a 100 year drought. The Nile actually stopped flowing to the Mediterranean (damn those sport utility chariots). The pharaohs lost power. Masses of people left the Nile valley. Dogs and cats were living together, complete anarchy. Ok, I made up that last part. The great Egyptian civilization never recovered to its former glory, nor did the pharaohs reacquire god-like status. Start the rain dance.
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Old 05-05-2010, 06:41 PM
 
69 posts, read 262,630 times
Reputation: 94
Quote:
Originally Posted by freewest View Post
"Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink". Our heavily populated coastal regions don't rely enough on de-salination, and our interior regions don't rely enough on conservation. Everything is always a quick fix. The west needs a hundred year, comprehensive plan.

On a side note, there have been metropolitan areas that have been abandoned due to lack of water, just not American. Thousands of years ago, Egypt experienced a 100 year drought. The Nile actually stopped flowing to the Mediterranean (damn those sport utility chariots). The pharaohs lost power. Masses of people left the Nile valley. Dogs and cats were living together, complete anarchy. Ok, I made up that last part. The great Egyptian civilization never recovered to its former glory, nor did the pharaohs reacquire god-like status. Start the rain dance.
What happened in Egypt thousands of years ago does not have relevance on this issue. Technology has advanced exponentially since then. It is extremely unlikely that the federal government would allow any major American city or metropolitan area to become uninhabitable due to water shortage.

Major American cities or metropolitan areas being abandoned due to water shortage is just a paranoid delusion doomsday scenario. It is not reality.
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Old 05-05-2010, 08:26 PM
 
Location: Pueblo - Colorado's Second City
12,259 posts, read 24,350,175 times
Reputation: 4395
Quote:
Originally Posted by Viper2 View Post
What happened in Egypt thousands of years ago does not have relevance on this issue. Technology has advanced exponentially since then. It is extremely unlikely that the federal government would allow any major American city or metropolitan area to become uninhabitable due to water shortage.

Major American cities or metropolitan areas being abandoned due to water shortage is just a paranoid delusion doomsday scenario. It is not reality.
I agree I don't think that modern American cities would be abandoned due to lack of water but I do think that the cost of water for cities that grow with indifference to the supply will go up so much that it will cause people and companies to move. For example because of the SDS, that is mainly needed in Colorado Springs because of urban sprawl, is going to cause their rates to double in the next few years. That will cause companies and people who have a choice to move to cities like Pueblo and Denver that have lower water rates. So while the city will not be abandoned it will hamper growth and hurt current business and that is just for one water delivery system with no drought.
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Old 05-06-2010, 11:22 AM
 
148 posts, read 222,941 times
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Originally Posted by Viper2 View Post
What happened in Egypt thousands of years ago does not have relevance on this issue. ......is just a paranoid delusion doomsday scenario. It is not reality.
Ridiculous. To dismiss historical events that have similarities to modern problems is purely irresponsible. It is that very thought process that prevents us from seeing the root causes of problems, and hence, real world solutions. Extended droughts throughout history have destroyed economies over and over again. We are no different, nor smarter. Do you think the pharaohs (i.e. the central government) did not step in to get water to their cities? They did. Guess what. It didn't work. Why? The treasuries were too depleted to get it done right. Sound familiar? So people moved elsewhere. Same problems, different millenium. Let's just be our usual, arrogant selves and dismiss the problem as "paranoid delusion doomsday scenario".
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Old 05-06-2010, 11:29 AM
 
Location: Pueblo - Colorado's Second City
12,259 posts, read 24,350,175 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freewest View Post
Ridiculous. To dismiss historical events that have similarities to modern problems is purely irresponsible. It is that very thought process that prevents us from seeing the root causes of problems, and hence, real world solutions. Extended droughts throughout history have destroyed economies over and over again. We are no different, nor smarter. Do you think the pharaohs (i.e. the central government) did not step in to get water to their cities? They did. Guess what. It didn't work. Why? The treasuries were too depleted to get it done right. Sound familiar? So people moved elsewhere. Same problems, different millenium. Let's just be our usual, arrogant selves and dismiss the problem as "paranoid delusion doomsday scenario".
You can't compare Egypt to modern Colorado as they did not have the technology we have to get water from the mountains, store water etc. For example if I went back to that era with the plans to build the Fry-pan Arkansas project they would look at it and not have a clue as to what it was telling them to do and that project has saved Pueblo from a few droughts and large rain storms.
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Old 05-06-2010, 12:36 PM
 
Location: Wherabouts Unknown!
7,841 posts, read 18,925,448 times
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Josseppie wrote:
You can't compare Egypt to modern Colorado as they did not have the technology we have to get water from the mountains, store water etc.
Yeah, for example they had the technology to build the Pyramids.....and we don't.
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Old 05-06-2010, 12:45 PM
 
148 posts, read 222,941 times
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Originally Posted by Josseppie View Post
..... they did not have the technology we have to get water from the mountains, store water etc.
LOL........you're kidding, right? Ever hear of a qanat? Yeah, so they didn't have microprocessor controlled pumps. But that doesn't mean they didn't have the technology to get water from far away places to their metropolitan areas. They certainly did. And they were incredibly clever and industrious about it, using advanced mathematics and building skills to create very elaborate water delivery infrastructures. The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Romans, etc. They all did it. These people were not stupid. They just could not build enough to keep up.
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Old 05-06-2010, 01:05 PM
 
Location: Pueblo - Colorado's Second City
12,259 posts, read 24,350,175 times
Reputation: 4395
Quote:
Originally Posted by freewest View Post
LOL........you're kidding, right? Ever hear of a qanat? Yeah, so they didn't have microprocessor controlled pumps. But that doesn't mean they didn't have the technology to get water from far away places to their metropolitan areas. They certainly did. And they were incredibly clever and industrious about it, using advanced mathematics and building skills to create very elaborate water delivery infrastructures. The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Romans, etc. They all did it. These people were not stupid. They just could not build enough to keep up.
I am not joking. I study history and watch the History Channel as well as the Science Channel and read the Scientific American. So I know they were very advanced for their time and did amazing things but nothing they did compares to the Fry-Pan Arkansas project with the Pueblo Reservoir or the SDS and the many other water projects that bring water to the front range from the Western Slope.

Again I am not saying we don't need to watch our water supply, we do, and developers should prove they have enough water before they start a new development but to say we are in the same situation as the ancient people is just as far off as saying Colorado hase enough water and developers can build with no concern about the water supply.
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Old 05-06-2010, 01:21 PM
 
Location: Pueblo - Colorado's Second City
12,259 posts, read 24,350,175 times
Reputation: 4395
Quote:
Originally Posted by CosmicWizard View Post
Josseppie wrote:
You can't compare Egypt to modern Colorado as they did not have the technology we have to get water from the mountains, store water etc.
Yeah, for example they had the technology to build the Pyramids.....and we don't.
Who says we don't have the technology to build the Pyramids? We don't need them, talk about a waste of time and money. We just have sky scrapers in Denver and highrise's in Colorado Springs and Pueblo built with materials they did not even know existed. Not to mention I can go to DIA and fly on a 747-400 non stop to Europe, what did they have?

Look I am not trying to say we are better then them we are just more advanced and I would hope so as they lived thousands of years ago so it would be sad if we had the same technology. My point is we can't really compare the challenges and solutions Colorado has with our water supply to the challenges and solutions they had as they are different since we are in a different time.
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Old 05-06-2010, 01:43 PM
 
148 posts, read 222,941 times
Reputation: 291
Quote:
Originally Posted by Josseppie View Post
My point is we can't really compare the challenges and solutions Colorado has with our water supply to the challenges and solutions they had as they are different since we are in a different time.
And that is where we disagree. Only technology is different. The challenges are not different.
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