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It would be far cheaper to build new reservoirs for flood control and local water storage.... Then it could be banked for rare droughts, used for recreation, etc...
True. But what if the southwest was to pay for it? Or at least most of it. Considering that they are the ones who need the water.
True. But what if the southwest was to pay for it? Or at least most of it. Considering that they are the ones who need the water.
If I lived in the Midwest I would not be willing to pay for a cent of it. They would have to pay for the entire project, and I feel like they should have to pay for the water on top of it. It would take SO MUCH energy to do it that the cost is really not feasible though. It would probably take upwards of ten nuclear power plants... probably much more. We are talking about pumping it over the continental divide.
It takes immense amounts of energy to pump water up hill, especially that much.
If they run out of water I feel it is their problem. Nobody chose for them to live in a desert, they did it to themselves. They have already destroyed whole eco-regions supporting their lifestyle, and they are still running out of water.
What if we instead just pumped the water to a reservoir by the Colorado River. And not over the divide. That would probably lighten the energy cost. And then slowly that water would be trickled in with the Colorado River. But I don't know, you seem to know more about this than I do.
What if we instead just pumped the water to a reservoir by the Colorado River. And not over the divide. That would probably lighten the energy cost. And then slowly that water would be trickled in with the Colorado River. But I don't know, you seem to know more about this than I do.
Interesting idea, but you are still talking about pumping this water essentially a mile up. If you take the lateral distance out of the equation we are talking about lifting massive amounts of water a mile up into the air, consistently.
The simplest approach is to just treat the desert like what it is, a desert. Stop growing crops there, stop growing lawns there, etc.... If you want those things, there is A LOT of area in this country that gets more than enough water to support them.
Omaha is like 4 feet higher in elevation than Phoenix... so you could get water to run downhill to the southwest.... it would take a massive tunneling project, lol. A MASSIVE project. It would be a hole under the Rocky Mountains... would be cool to raft it though...
I have to shake my head when there are those who propose de-sal plants along the Southern CA coast. If the Nimby's there won't even allow a mid-rise or high-rise along their precious coastline, imagine the fight they'd stage if some unsightly de-sal plant were proposed along their coastline!!!
How they got that de-sal plant built near Cardiff is a miracle to me, which will provide only 7% of San Diego's water!
They are building a de-sal plant on the coast of Tijuana, and any excess water will be sold to San Diego!
Santa Barbara is revising an old de-sal plant that was built years ago, but never finished, because suddenly the rains came and it wasn't needed.
I've also heard of a de-sal plant proposed for Huntington Beach.
I have to shake my head when there are those who propose de-sal plants along the Southern CA coast. If the Nimby's there won't even allow a mid-rise or high-rise along their precious coastline, imagine the fight they'd stage if some unsightly de-sal plant were proposed along their coastline!!!
Parts of the desert can be laid out with solar panels to provide the electricity for desalination and pumping. The deserts can bloom.
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