Why can't we ship water from the East Coast...

[RussBLib]

...to the West Coast? The entire eastern half of the country has been getting tons of rainfall, while the west dries up and is slowly dying of thirst.

In the words of Joe Biden, this is America! Come on, man! We can do anything!

Convert some of the oil pipelines to water pipelines. Charter fleets of trucks (electric trucks) to fill up in the East and drive out to the parched west. Return and repeat. Load water tankers on trains and ship it out west.

We get a LOT of our produce from California. It's like watching a slow motion horror flick as the west rapidly dries up. I understand California has about 10 operating desalination plants, but they are not enough.

Maybe climate change can work in our favor. Why don't Pacific hurricanes travel up the west coast and fill up the reservoirs? Maybe they will begin to do so. Just because they haven't....the jet stream might shift....who knows? Until the climate patterns change, let's get off our butts. Come on, man!

[uriel1972]

1. steam powered blimps?

Gonna take a lot of work might be more efficient and reliable to use desal plants? dunno lot of questions I have but no real answers.

[Sneederbunk]

21. Giant water balloons. I love it.

[rurallib]

2. been hearing this more and more - especially after some inundating storm

in the midwest or east.

A few years ago there was a lot of talk of tapping the Great Lakes for water.

[Sibelius Fan]

3. Back in the 1970s, water-challenged Midwest states lured factories away

from the Great Lakes area with huge tax breaks, etc. Unemployment soared in Ohio and elsewhere. Those businesses had located in Ohio in part to take advantage of natural resources like water, which were plentiful and cheap.

Then, those same states proposed diverting water from the Great Lakes to their states to support the businesses they had lured away from the Great Lakes.

[rickford66]

4. How about not living in a desert ?

[Sibelius Fan]

7. 25% of CA is desert.

[Maru Kitteh]

25. Okay. But that's where the people live. nt

[Mr.Bill]

36. Incorrect.

The bulk of the population lives near the coast, which is not desert.

[Sibelius Fan]

50. I live in Lake Forest, CA. This whole area of SoCal from the foothills to the ocean

is reclaimed desert. Millions of people live here, and tons of crops are grown here as well.

[Luciferous]

11. Yep! I keep reading about people taking water from the Great Lakes, but that isn't really

a solution. It reminds me of people who live in areas that keep getting hit by hurricanes and continue to rebuild in the same damn places. It's a huge waste of money and not sustainable.

[Grins]

40. Will never happen.

All the states bordering the Great Lakes formed a pact years ago to NEVER allow Great Lakes waters to be piped ANYWHERE. It’s too precious.

[CrackityJones75]

24. Exactly!

[pnwmom]

30. Seattle's not a desert, and it's been well over 100 here. n/t

[Mariana]

32. Is Seattle short of water? nt.

[pnwmom]

37. No, not this summer. Our snow pack was fine. That's not why our temps are so high.

Also, Seattle's 38 inches of annual rainfall is about the same as the average in the US.

https://www.bestplaces.net/climate/city/washington/seattle

[tenderfoot]

43. Oh! That's a good one!

Did you make that up on your own?

[11 Bravo]

71. I thought of Sam IMMEDIATELY when I read that post!

[elleng]

5. 'Convert some of the oil pipelines to water pipelines. Charter fleets of trucks (electric trucks) to

fill up in the East and drive out to the parched west. Return and repeat. Load water tankers on trains and ship it out west.'

Sure, nothing to it.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. Well, just around here our water tables are pretty low...

and most rain dumps out to the ocean.

Plans have been made to pipe Great Lakes water to replenish aquifers, but Canada owns half of them and mumbles such a thing could mean war.

And, pumping water over the mountains ain't easy.

[PortTack]

8. No!

Do some more looking into your idea.

[Ace Rothstein]

9. How about not having 10's of millions of people living in places without natural resources?

Fuck piping the Great Lakes dry so people can live in the desert.

[Diamond_Dog]

13. This.

[WarGamer]

17. +1000 nt

[former9thward]

19. So empty California?

Do east coast urban centers have "natural resources". Nope. They would starve without food from outside their areas. Maybe we should not have 10's of millions living in urban centers that are not sustainable on their own?

[MisterProton]

62. No, you just charge people the value of the resource

There is already a mechanism to allocate scare resources - prices. If water prices get too expensive, then people will move to areas where the costs of living are cheaper. Costs of living are already a big factor in why many are leaving expensive cities for more suburban or rural areas. The answer isn't just to subsidize the problem into growing into a bigger problem.

Also, one of the bigger problems out west are the special interests groups, like Almond farmers who lobby for subsidized water usage - and who consume a massive amount of water. You don't try to grow coconuts in the arctic, so you shouldn't be growing Almonds where they can't survive naturally.

[former9thward]

65. Fine, stop the government food subsidies.

Let people pay what it actually costs. See how long that lasts...

[WarGamer]

103. California has PLENTY of water for residential use

they do NOT have enough water for water-intensive agriculture like Rice/Almonds

[Tarc]

10. Um, go West?

Pretty sure there's an ocean over there.

[dawg day]

12. The great lakes are closer...

But I think there's a very old treaty with Canada that the water won't be transferred except the natural way... like the Mississippi.

[Marrah_Goodman]

53. The great lakes are glacial

They won't just refill.

[dawg day]

61. Very large bowls!

[LakeArenal]

14. So the West deserts can have swimming pools, soaking tubs and golf courses.

PS Quit building in flood plains and deserts.

[WarGamer]

16. and THAT is the correct answer...

[Demsrule86]

96. Exactly, I am against piping Great Lake Water anywhere. We have to take hard look at

areas affected by climate right now and make common-sense decisions about where people should live and where they shouldn't.

[WarGamer]

15. Let's get a few things straight.

California has enough water for the people who live there, no doubt.

They do NOT have enough water for "water-intensive" agriculture.

Almonds, Rice... get it out of California. Arkansas is the biggest grower of Rice in the USA, I wonder why...

Will the economy of Ca take a hit? Sure. But the situation is only going to get worse over the next decade or so...

[Maru Kitteh]

28. California probably has enough water for the people, they do not have enough for the

cows and pigs and all the food they grow for the aforementioned cows and pigs. Grow food for humans, not cows.

[Hekate]

18. Ever look at a topographical map of the continental US? Ever talk to a civil engineer about ...

…crossing the Rockies? Ever check your water bill and try to translate how many gallons your household uses per day? How much your town uses?

Ever figure out how much water it takes for the food you eat?

I have no idea what other places are doing, but California has been at this a long time, some places better than others. We’ve piped water around a very geologically complex region, drained it from one state to another, dammed it, conserved it, piped it out of underground aquifers, learned to live with less, passed ordinances to fine homeowners, and on and on.

Did I mention the planet-wide population has passed the 7 billion mark? I didn’t? Well, it has. Their smog is our smog, their pollution is ours, their overpopulation needs food and water just like ours, and the US population what percent of the total? 4.21%.

I suppose all us Californians can move to the Great Lakes states, but I will tell you a bunch of us already tried moving to Canada and the Pacific Northwest looking for, among other things, places with much more rain and cooler climates. The locals were not thrilled to see us come in any great numbers. Last year all those places had wildfires. The rain is not arriving. And as we speak, they are suffering a triple-digit heatwave without AC because who the hell ever needed AC before now?

Oh, I think I forgot to mention the world population — it’s now actually 7.9 billion.

[Hortensis]

20. Lots of grounded responses, but I like your thinking big.

Here in GA we're about to get more big rain that I would wish to our former neighbors in SoCal if I could.

Down near our winter place in Florida are fresh-water springs that put out literally millions of gallons a day, each in some cases, that run almost directly into the Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean or Atlantic Ccean. Meanwhile, decades after being traumatized (made aware) by drought, I rush to turn off the faucet to avoid wasting fresh water, while many millions of gallons of rain water run out of every city without being captured.

Keep thinking and aspiring.

[GulfCoast66]

41. No way! All that spring water we have running into the ocean.

Mainly in the big bend from Crystal River north, supports an amazing ecosystem that happens to be where we boat and fish.

And the flow from these springs continues to decrease and comes up full of nutrients, which it never had. When I first visited Crystal River 30 years ago the water was just that, Crystal clear. Now it is full of algae.

Our springs are at risk.

[Hortensis]

77. My husband fishes those ecosystems also.

That fresh water at least still looks beautifully clear to this amateur, but...

[GulfCoast66]

81. Some of the more remote springs are still super clear.

But Crystal River, between the septic systems and fertilizer comes out with a nutrient load and algae grows immediately. In the natural state is was pristine water coming out.

I love them all. My favorite part of the state.

[Hortensis]

82. Lovely. I have a special fondness for the turtle families

on the Rainbow River. You can't predict these things.

[GulfCoast66]

83. That's a pretty spring.

I’m almost glad so few Floridians know about that part of the state.

Raining like crazy here. Been getting it daily. Perhaps my favorite time of the year. My pepper plants are loving it.

[Hortensis]

98. We're up in No GA during the summer, but lots of rain here so far also,

thank goodness for both places. I'm from drought-plagued CA and have never learned not to growl at the TV when newscasters promise that nasty old rain won't be bothering anyone today. Here, the deer and rabbits love the lush growth on whatever they didn't manage to kill during our months away.

[Rstrstx]

22. Desalinization would be VASTLY cheaper

And it’s very expensive

[RussBLib]

23. I hear California is building the biggest desal plant ever near San Diego

They need twice as many as they have now. Shit, the sea level is rising!

[uponit7771]

48. +1

[roamer65]

26. No pipelines will divert water from the Great Lakes.

Nor will any aqueduct or related system.

It will not be allowed to happen.

Period.

Even if it means war.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

52. Agreed. nt

[hunter]

27. It takes a lot of energy to move water long distances and over mountains.

The lower passes of the continental divide are still about a mile high.

Desalinization is probably the better option beyond 1,000 miles, or less than that when there are steep grades to overcome.

And it's not all about desalinating sea water now that domestic sewage can be safely converted back into drinking water at much lower energy costs. A desert city could be like the International Space Station, with today's urine turned into tomorrow's coffee.

https://www.nasa.gov/content/water-recycling/

In any case, desalinated water is too expensive for conventional farming and it's probably unethical to use it for exterior landscaping.

It's difficult to say which is worse for the natural environment; desalinizing sea water or transporting fresh water long distances.

The economic cost of abandoning places like Las Vegas or Phoenix would be much greater than the cost of building sophisticated water projects for those cities.

Civilization will have more than enough trouble relocating people displaced by rising seas.

[brush]

29. Prohibitively espensive. Water is very heavy. Some kind of aqueduct system...

would be a good engineering project for infrastructure.

[Deb]

31. Because you'd be stealing from Canada?

[RussBLib]

34. Pipelines from Canada is a great idea

Lots of mountains, lots of snow along the Rockies in Western Canada. Another infrastructure program.

[GulfCoast66]

42. I'm thinking Canada might disagree.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

56. We have pipelines from Canada. They're full of oil.

Canadians want to build more pipelines. For oil.

I don't think they're interested in piping water.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

66. What does oil cost?

I suppose if people were crazy/desperate enough to pay $75 bucks a barrel for water.

I think Still Suits might be more practical

Remember, water is life!

[UnderThisLaw]

33. I hear water

has an East Coast bias

[NickB79]

35. You know how much water agriculture uses in the Southwest and California?

Even if we converted ALL our oil pipelines to water, you wouldn't get even a fraction of what's needed.

The scale is beyond what most people can grasp.

To pump sufficient water thousands of miles, up thousands of feet of elevation, would require an infrastructure investment in the HUNDREDS of trillions.

And no, America can't do "anything". There are hard limits that physics puts into place on all of us.

[Amishman]

74. yup, i played with some numbers. the amount of water used is incredible, it couldn't be done.

CA agriculture alone uses 34 million acre feet of water per year.

Divide that by 365, and you get 93,150 acre feet per day.

Lets give a little context. We know how much infrastructure, pipelines, and tankers are used to move oil around.

The US oil production is 9.6 million barrels per day. Convert that to Acre feet and you get 1242.

So just to supply CA's agriculture, you'd need a water transit infrastructure 75x larger than our current oil infrastructure.

[Happy Hoosier]

38. Desalination plants on the west coast...

Make a lot more sense.

[susanr516]

39. It's outrageously expensive

I live in Corpus Christi. We negotiated an agreement to purchase about 144,000 acre-feet per year from the Garwood Irrigation Co. and Lake Texana. The cost of building the 101 mile long pipeline and pumps was $270 million, and that's in flat as a pancake south Texas. https://www.ccbiznews.com/corpus_christi_water_pipeline_now_online

[hunter]

60. The California Aqueduct has a capacity 66 times that.

It could deliver 144,000 acre feet (46,922,605,488 gallons) of water in five and a half days.

That's just one of California's huge water projects.

I don't think we'll be asking Elon Musk to bore a 70 foot tunnel 1300 miles from St. Louis MO to Phoenix AZ, complete with million acre solar farms to power the pumps, anytime soon now.

A 54 inch pipe, like the Mary Rhodes Pipeline supplying Corpus Christi, wouldn't solve the water problems of the Southwestern U.S.A..

Gas and oil pipelines are much smaller.

The Kern River gas pipeline, which transports gas from Wyoming to local gas distribution companies, power plants, and heavy industry in Utah, Nevada, and California has a diameter of 36 inches, which is less than half the cross section of a fifty four inch pipe.

36 inches is among the larger diameter pipes used to transport fossil fuels.

People don't recognize the scale of the problem.

Using an oil pipeline to transport water to the Southwest from the East would be like using a garden hose to supply water to an entire city.

[susanr516]

85. You're right

This project was to provide additional water to an area that has a population of about 500,000 and covers 140 sq.miles. Additionally, the only agricultural irrigation here is for cotton crops. I was attempting to point out what you have explained so well: the scale of the problem.

[Captain Zero]

44. The Great Lakes is closer

If they are willing to sell any of their water.

[Marrah_Goodman]

101. They cannot and should not

The water is also part of Canada. Additionally, they are glacial lakes and could not refill with just rain.

[dilby]

45. Because it will only prolonged the inevitable and will not resolve the problem.

If you ship water to the west coast, it’s primarily going to end up in the Southwest and only going to keep people moving to cities that should not exist to begin with. Phoenix continues to grow even though everyone knows the growth is not sustainable because there is just not enough water. You send them water, they will just keep building new houses and ask for more.

[FirefighterJo]

46. Chile and china are doing it

Chile bore a watertunnel right through the Andes and china built/is building a giant artificial river.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2018/04/tunneling-andes-connect-argentina-chile/&ved=2ahUKEwj54ZGrkbzxAhWK-6QKHTQ4CDQQFjALegQIAxAC&usg=AOvVaw22GCDGo3NwygFZ_HL6OCVK

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South%E2%80%93North_Water_Transfer_Project

[sarisataka]

47. It's California and California gets

Whatever California wants, because it's California.

A small favor before we start draining other states dry to support the west coast. How many tank trucks of water will it take to support one day of California's needs?

[NNadir]

49. The energy to do this will come from where exactly?

The proportion of energy obtained from dangerous fossil fuels on this planet is rising, not falling.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

51. So it can be used in a DESERT?

"Flyover country" won't agree to it, despite how the Great Lakes comprise 21% of all the freshwater on Earth.

It's wasteful, especially with mega-farms using so much water for consumables like freakin' almonds and alfalfa.

[hunter]

91. "Flyover country" is the biggest desert of all.

Places covered with many square miles of chemically treated corn and soybeans have much less biological diversity than the deserts of the Southwestern U.S.A..

Iowa is hell on earth.

Less than 1% of the tallgrass prairie that once covered most of Iowa remains intact; only about 5% of the state's prairie pothole wetlands remain, and most of the original forest has been lost.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150924035847/http://www.iowadnr.gov/Environment/ThreatenedEndangered.aspx

[Demsrule86]

95. Well then I suppose California doesn't need our 'polluted' water and by the way, crops usuing

chemicals are grown in California.

[hunter]

99. I'm universally hostile to some kinds of agriculture.

There are farms in both California and Iowa that need to be bought out and the land restored to something resembling a natural state.

We wouldn't even have to evict the somewhat mythical "family farmers" from their grandparents' homes if they agreed to protect and respect the restored landscapes.

There are many sorts of agriculture that do not make the world a better place. Factory farm meat and fuel ethanol are two examples. Alas, the automobile cults and bacon cults are powerful forces in this nation.

In any case, intra-basin water transfers are usually a bad idea.

[Demsrule86]

97. We agree on this...sorry don't build in a desert.

[Blue_Adept]

54. We may be getting a ton of rain

But we're in droughts here ourselves. Our winters are weaker, in the northeast for example, and we get less snow than we used to, which means less melting in the spring and lower reservoirs and high drought/dry season.

[maxrandb]

55. Ignore the snark. You make valid points that should be explored

Because this is the United STATES of America.

I was stationed in Lemoore, CA with the Navy. People that have never been to California have no idea how much of Americas food and products come from California. There is more cotton grown in the Central Valley of California than there is in the former Confederate states.

Lettuce, onions, garlic, corn, tomatoes, almonds, walnuts, fruit trees, cabbage...you name it...in the central valley, fields of food that all America consumes stretch for as far as the eye can see.

Look, either we are all in this together, or we're not.

The west coast, with few Retrumplican Dipshits exception, don't butch and moan when tax dollars are needed when hurricanes and tornadoes rearrange the landscape of the Midwest and east, because hopefully, our "fellow Americans" will be there for California when earthquakes and volcanoes come.

The selfish "fuck California" responses from posters on this thread is Dipshit Donnie Americans wet dream.

[RussBLib]

57. America used to think big

Now we can't seem to get shit done at all. Blame the Republicans? Ourselves? TFG?

A pall of pessimism has descended on this country. We seem to have no inspiring leaders, and judging from the responses on this thread, we are overwhelmed by naysayers. That won't help to solve our problems.

[sarisataka]

59. It isn't a question of thinking big,

Although I believe you have not considered the scale of what you are suggesting, but a question of thinking critically.

To put it another way the question is less can we do it and more should we do it. Should we pull resources from across the nation to artificially maintain a non-sustainable farm model? Perhaps we should look at changing the model instead of applying the oil solution to water- Drain baby drain

[eissa]

64. Great response, really disappointed with some posters here

California is not a desert, we're the breadbasket of this country, supplying nearly 80% of all produce. If we want to talk about reforming some of our agricultural models to stop the expansion of heavily water-reliant crops like almonds, then I could see the point some are trying to make. But to tell tens of millions of people to just "move" is pretty ludicrous. If we can build oil pipelines, we can do the same for water. It's not an impossibility.

[maxrandb]

80. Replacing, or iliminating the crops from California and this country would starve

We sent people to the moon.

You'd think we could begin looking at a Strategic Water Reserve.

There has to be a better solution than bulldozers dumping 10-20 foot, 200 mile long piles of snow into East Coast harbors.

Heck, the California aqueduct system is itself an engineering marvel.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to see an excess of water in Detroit and wonder if there would be a way to get that excess water to drought riddled states.

And yes, things are cyclical, so the rain will eventually return to the west.

This country can think big and bold again. If we don't, we'll be stuck in the Dystopian Retrumplican "Eff you, I got mine" mentality that has poisoned the soul of this country since Ray-Gun.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

86. The Army Corps of Engineers already reviewed...

... the feasibility of transporting Great Lakes water to the much-closer Great Plains, in 1982 per Congress, and it was deemed not feasible.

Shipping Great Lakes water? That's California dreaming.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/2015/04/19/michigan-great-lakes-water/25965121/

This isn't a new issue, and I'll continue to survive just fine with my permanent personal boycott of agricultural products such as almonds, pistachios and rice from California.



The sensible solution is for states like California to charge farmers for their use of underground water, thereby forcing them to internalize the cost of their environmental impact upon the general welfare.

Remember the Aral Sea? It used to be the 4th largest lake on Earth until the USSR diverted the water for agricultural products like cotton.

[sarisataka]

100. Isn't the proposal to ship water to California

Less "Eff you, I got mine" and more "I don't have enough, gimme yours"

The drought is a factor but we have been aware for decades that the water table is being depleted. It isn't news that the population and commercial needs for water are greater than the local supply.

[maxrandb]

104. We could look at it that way, but that would make us Retrumplicans

I don't want to put words in the OPs mouth, but I don't think all that they are saying is "ship water to California".

I think that all that's being suggested is some sort of Strategic Water Reserve that can be combined with other options to help mitigate the problem.

To me, water reserves would be one part combined with other actions, such as

- Better crop management to ensure less water consuming products.
- Desalination plants to convert sea water to usuable agriculture water.
- More water conservation programs.
- Action on Climate Change.

When 100 year floods occur in the Midwest, we don't tell people to move out of the Midwest.

Some of these posts are embarrassing. This country used to, and can again do great and difficult things.

The suggestion that millions of Californians simply move, is no different than telling people to drink bleach and shine a flashlight up their asses in response to a deadly pandemic.

It may be too costly, but we have been making our own fresh water in the middle of the ocean for decades. Who knows what innovations could be discovered to make desalination a viable option. Let's not forget that at one time, the power I hold in a small device in my hand, occupied entire buildings.

That's all I'm saying. Perhaps the answer is out there.

Look at the space program. Were the advances we've made in Science, Math, Physics, Engineering, Communications, etc., worth the investment?

We'll never know what's achievable if we don't try.

The easy way is the Retrumplican way..."you're all on your own"

[uriel1972]

88. I don't for a second advocate the 'Forget California' line...

I just question the logistics of moving all that water, the energy and the wastage. If all that energy and creativity were spent on fixing the fundamental flaws in the farming/market/business model and investing in drought resistant/low use crops and replacements for the wasteful water usage farms then you might not be needing the pipeline.

I live in Australia which is almost always in a drought through large areas of the country, but we grow cotton and rice and other wasteful/water intensive crops in the middle of near deserts. It's insane and I point the finger at our government and it's cronies for allowing this travesty to happen. So I am not singling out California, the whole world needs to get used to the new climate realities.

Rather than 'Forget California', I am advocating care for the land and it's people. I am suggesting sustainability over trying to delay the inevitable through energy intensive and wasteful schemes. We have to look after everybody and that means making hard, practical and pragmatic decisions. The last thing we need to be doing is building unnecessary power-plants and pipelines taking up precious resources and time, when we need to look at the most efficient way we can sustainably care for our people land and resources.
Solidarity
Uriel1972

[Act_of_Reparation]

58. Shipping water is inane.

There's no way you can load up trucks with the quantity of water needed to ease a drought. The only efficient method of transporting water long distances is through a pipeline.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

63. Californians need to pay attention...

... to where their water is going.

Same for Arizona's alfalfa fields, used to feed cattle in Saudi Arabia. Those farming practices were finally stopped in Saudi Arabia, when those farming corporations were collectively using up their precious underground water at a rate of about 5 trillion gallons a year.

[intrepidity]

79. Right on. nt

[hunter]

90. "Factory farm" meat and dairy operations in California are worse than almonds...

...bad for the environment and horrific for the cows.

Inexpensive beef and dairy products are not a necessity. Let the cows graze on the hillsides. I don't care if the prices of meat and dairy products increase.

Almonds and pistachios are ancient foods that have been grown for thousand of years in artificially irrigated arid environments, places like Iran, Spain, and Egypt.

If not California, where else should Almonds be grown? The climate here is ideal.

It would be a great improvement if almond and pistachio trees replaced all the factory farm dairy operations and feed lots in California's Central Valley, including silage grown for export.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

93. Agree about cows, and I'll never eat those...

... nuts ever again. They're certainly not a necessity either!

[Sogo]

67. With relatives in SoCal, I have often had that same thought:

Why can't we ship/pipeline some of what we in the MW and East get an abundance of - rain water - ?

[RussBLib]

72. If we can imagine it

It can happen, within reason, of course. Pipelines are doable. There is a lot of animosity directed at California, for some reason.

[Demsrule86]

94. No, the region is too hot and it would be a waste of time. Also, many areas in

those states should not have been built on.

[Sogo]

68. Why do people keep saying you'd have to cross mountains to get water to the West Coast?

I can drive from Iowa, where I am in the Midwest, to SoCal, and certainly don't have to go over the Rockies....The only mountains are at the very end of the trip outside of LA and SD, and those aren't very high....

[hunter]

69. Seriously?

The highest elevation along I-10 occurs just east of Tucson, 20 miles (32 km) west of Willcox, at the mile marker 320 exit for the Amerind Foundation and Museum. The westbound lanes of I-10 briefly cross above 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_10

It might not look always look like a mountain but even the lower passes of the Continental Divide are pretty high up.

[sarisataka]

70. Because Geography nt

[Lurker Deluxe]

73. Who gets what, when?

Just a little math ... I know math are hard, but not that hard.

1" of rain = 27,154 gallons a water per acre. Make it 25K to make the math quicker.

A railcar, average, holds 25K gallons.

From the Great Lakes to somewhere that needs water is 1500 miles.

A train is limited to 60 MPH in the USA.

A rail car filled with water from the Great Lakes would take 1 day to get somewhere the water is needed, assuming it never stopped moving.

1 railcar = a acre of simulated 1" rainfall.

Nevada = 110,000 square miles which = 70,400,000 acres.

Assuming 0 load time and 0 unload time. It would take 70 million railcars filled with water delivered per day to = 1" of rainfall in Nevada alone.

Math are hard.

[RussBLib]

75. Well, I don't think every inch of Nevada needs water

And I'm not sure of your math.

[Lurker Deluxe]

76. Prolly not

And 1" of rainfall would not alleviate any drought stricken area.

You can be as unsure of "my math" as you like. I get it ... math are hard.

Moving water over distance to resolve a drought is a futile effort.

[11 Bravo]

78. Shipping takes too long. They should fly it out. First class.

[Decoy of Fenris]

84. The West will only continue to fry and shipping water would be a wasted effort.

The money it would take to ship water would be better spent relocating the hardest-hit population centers; There's tons of open land, for agriculture or urban development, in the heartlands or any of the northern border states up near Canada. As climate change ramps up, coastal cities like San Diego will end up drowned regardless. To keep throwing money (or water) into those doomed areas is an absolute waste of time, money and water, one way or another.

You're right, we can do anything; Let's preemptively evacuate these people and put them someplace where they have an actual chance of survival.

[Spider Jerusalem]

87. Because you'd need a couple of hundred nuke plants to generate the energy to do it?

The logistics are not feasible.

[eShirl]

89. tow the next giant chunk of ice sheet that breaks off from Antarctica

[ripcord]

92. Like this is new

Los Angeles imports over half of its water supply, it is almost like putting millions of people in the desert without an adequate water supply wasn't very smart. They created one of the largest ecological disaster in the country when they totally drained Lake Owens creating the largest source of PM-10 in the U.S. My worry is that when things get really bad the state will take water from other areas to support the irresponsible cities so they can have have lawns, golf courses and swimming pools in the desert.

[uriel1972]

102. On another note...

If you start piping water when it's raining, what will happen when it stops raining?