Calirofrnia has about 1 years worth of water left

[regexcellent]

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/03/the-california-water-shortage-again.html

[C0ckney]

edit: at people's interpretations of my previous post.

[Dinner]

NPR was recently talking about the possibility of a mega drought in the US southwest. They were also talking about a water project which the US Army Corp has been talking about since the 1950's but which has never gotten off the ground. It involves making a whole series of new dams and reservoirs on the Mississippi River and it's tributaries and then building a series of canals and tunneling a large diameter pipeline to deliverify the water to the Colorado River basin. That way flood surges in the Mississippi basin could be diverted out west to the six states of the Southwest while there would be additional stored water in reservoirs so if there was a drought irrigation water could still be delivered to the Midwest and parts of the south.

The problem? Costs. It would be one of the largest public works projects since the Great Depression or since the interstate freeway system was set up. It would mean the country would have much more ability to move water around, store water, and all those new hydroelectric dams would help to decrease reliance on fossil fuels.

[Dinner]

http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/09/06/western-water-woes-is-big-infrastructure-the-way-to-go/

That is one I found online and will post a link to NPR's Here and Now program when it goes up online.

[Dinner]

http://m.reviewjournal.com/news/water-environment/mississippi-may-help-ease-west-drought-mulroy-tells-chamber

Another old article on the idea.

[regexcellent]

It's 900 miles from the lower Mississippi to the Colorado basin. That's a long ass pipeline

[Dinner]

It would be a mega project or at least a whole series of major projects. I am not sure Americans are even capable of large projects any more given how ****ed up our Congress is. China still dreams big though and they seem to be building new mega projects every other month.

[The Mad Monk]

A project to to build an aqueduct from the Missouri River to western Kansas was just nixed on cost concerns (18 billion to build, 1 billion annually to operate).

http://www.krsl.com/local-news/4766-aqueduct-from-missouri-river-not-feasible-say-officials

[regexcellent]

That's less than half as far. Oerdin, you're talking about a project so huge it's really not clear that it would ever be worth the cost.

[N35t0r]

bit it's to deliverify water!

[Dinner]

With climate change, which is projected to dry the west out, there is going to be a big water crunch. Hell, there are a least two mega droughts which happened naturally in the last 2000 years. It was enough to cause native American farming civilizations in the SW to collapse.

No, I don't think a mega drought would cause civilization to collapse but it sure as hell would cause a century or two of decreased economic activity in the region.

[Dr Strangelove]

Why not move the farming from California to the southeast?

[The Mad Monk]

Fewer Mexicans.

[PLATO]

NPR was recently talking about the possibility of a mega drought in the US southwest. They were also talking about a water project which the US Army Corp has been talking about since the 1950's but which has never gotten off the ground. It involves making a whole series of new dams and reservoirs on the Mississippi River and it's tributaries and then building a series of canals and tunneling a large diameter pipeline to deliverify the water to the Colorado River basin. That way flood surges in the Mississippi basin could be diverted out west to the six states of the Southwest while there would be additional stored water in reservoirs so if there was a drought irrigation water could still be delivered to the Midwest and parts of the south.

The problem? Costs. It would be one of the largest public works projects since the Great Depression or since the interstate freeway system was set up. It would mean the country would have much more ability to move water around, store water, and all those new hydroelectric dams would help to decrease reliance on fossil fuels.

Interesting. I wonder if they could supplement the Mississippi with a pipeline to the great lakes during lower water times. I have seen the Mississippi get pretty low...

The Great Lakes are the largest surface freshwater system on the Earth. Only the polar ice caps contain more fresh water.
84% of North America's surface fresh water
about 21% of the world's supply of surface fresh water

[The Mad Monk]

Zebra Mussels For Everyone!