[Mrs. Don-o]

Hey Sherm, I don't want to dismiss your realistic assessment of the technical difficulties and costs, but it's a matter of priorities, isn't it? It would be fun to look over the California state budget, rank state-funded projects on a most useful --> least useful scale, and then start cutting out state programs from the bottom until you've got enough $$ to do the desalination and tunnels. Think of all the useless socialist bullshuck boondoggles you could get rid of in the process! It's a win=win!

BTW, Love those Israelis!

Water surplus in Israel? With desalination, the once unthinkable is possible.

From the above link:

"Drawn from deep in the Mediterranean Sea, the water has flowed through pipelines reaching almost 4,000 feet off of Israel’s coast and, once in Israeli soil, buried almost 50 feet underground. Now, it rushes down a tube sending it through a series of filters and purifiers. After 90 minutes, it will be ready to run through the faucets of Tel Aviv.

Set to begin operating as soon as next month, Israel Desalination Enterprises Technologies’ Sorek Desalination Plant will provide up to 26,000 cubic meters – or nearly 7 million gallons – of potable water to Israelis every hour....The company’s U.S. subsidiary is designing a new desalination plant in San Diego, the $922 million Carlsbad Desalination Project, which will be the largest desalination plant in America."

Smart technology and a can-do attitude. If the Israelis ran California, they'd feed the world. If the Californians ran Israel--- ouch, I don't even want to think of it.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

That’s what I was thinking desal plants for the cities, and send the water from reservoirs, etc, to agriculture.

[Sherman Logan]

I looked up some numbers on this recently. CA cities are paying somewhere around $2.50/1000 gallons for water. Desal cost is somewhere in the $3.50 to $4.00 range.

I suspect farmers are paying a lot less than the cities are for water. Subsidized by the state and feds.

At any rate, given the ready availability of energy in CA, plus an entire ocean, providing sufficient water for whatever is desired is not an engineering issue. It’s simply one of finances and politics.

Which can be a great deal harder to solve.

BTW, I obviously agree that the State wastes an enormous amount of money on ineffective and even counter-productive programs.

[Sherman Logan]

It should be noted that CA’s location on the coast allows for the possibility of desal as a water resource at relatively low cost, at least for coastal cities.

Cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas, not so much. Megadroughts affecting the mountains where the water these cities depend on accumulates would leave them pretty much SOL.