Posted on 07/01/2022 6:22:47 AM PDT by libh8er
Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure don’t need all that water. All it does is cause flooding and massive tax expenditures to repair and strengthen dikes.
The best solution would be for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build an aqueduct from the Old River Control Structure on the Mississippi to Lake Powell, fill it, and then send more water from there down the Colorado to fill lake Mead.
About 4.5 million/gals a second flow past that structure on the Mississippi. As mentioned, New Orleans has a problem with that much water anyway, so let’s divert 250,000 gallons/sec to Lake Powell, which currently has a shortage of 5.5 trillion gallons.
This would take 254 days to fill.
Lake Mead has a somewhat larger shortage, about 8 trillion gallons, but it could be filled in about 370 days at 250,000 gallons/sec.
Within a year and eight months of the aqueduct’s finish, both reservoirs would be filled and most of the Southwest’s water problems would be gone. We built a California aqueduct that saved Southern California and a crude oil pipeline across Alaska that were far more difficult than this proposal.
Where are they going to get the power to drive the pumping system?
One billion solar panels!
Building this pipeline would not solve the problem. The population would grow again to exceed the supply.
Also, California has this big supply of water called the Pacific Ocean, if only they would allow desalination.
And does ONE person consider the environmental impact of this move?
It’s not just about moving water by itself.
There’s wildlife and invasive species which could be put into new environments that could wreak havoc with them.
Not many pumping stations may be needed along the way. One earlier poster noted how it was all downhill. Southern Oregon is high desert. 4K ft. while Las Vegas is low desert 2Kft. Phoenix 800ft. San Bernardino 1K ft.
Hydrology is a marvel, capable of climbing small hills with some creative construction.
I get that as I am a professional civil engineer. I live in the Columbia Basin in eastern Washington. The Tri Cities sits at 470 ASL.
300 miles at +/- 4000 feet of head will take some serious pumping.
Granted it wouldn’t be all uphill based upon the chosen route.
Perhaps Elon Musk’s Boring Co. could drill gradually down as it went West. If properly designed, the hydrostatic pressure of that many miles of water descending into the Earth could be used to lift the water the last 3/4 mile to lake level and with proper engineering very little pumping required.
But what do I know, I’ve only drilled down vertically 25,000 ft. let alone horizontally halfway across a continent.
Elon?
SS1
Hence my #35.
I did see that after I posted. 😀
As always in the Southwest, whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting.
Only been out West twice, but seems like it was uphill all the way. Would be hard to pump water up there.
Here’s an idea; People shouldn’t live in a f-ing DESERT!
Geeze! It’s always something STUPID with these dangerous and evil people!
If it is moving at more than one mile per hour, the pipe diameter would be less than 200 feet.
Makes sense.
I still think it would be easier to move the lake to the Mississippi river.
And it would be cheaper and more efficient to desalinate water from the Pacific Ocean.
You would know then, if there is excess water in the northwest that washes away uncaptured. From time to time, surely, as in last month, but on a regular basis ?
I’ve spent little time there, so I’m searching blindly.
😉
Oh, no, no, no. You can’t do anything that would actually benefit people. That’d violate the very core of the democraps’ credo.
the GD costal commission will not allow a desal plant to be built, just and FYI santa Barbara city/county does have a desal plant but it is mothballed and they will not open it
????Downhill all the way? The elevation of the Columbia River along the southern part of the river between Oregon and Washington is 0-300 feet (with a few ‘minor’ obstructions between it and the southwest). And they don’t allow even a new orchard to draw water without a lot of permitting hassle (most salmon reasons) so forget it.
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