California Droughts Could Have Dangerous Ripple Effects

[NickB79]

18. Because piping enough water to make a dent would require insane amounts of energy we don't have

By God, you'd have to pipe it OVER the Rocky Mountains! Even the lowest passes through them are a MILE of vertical elevation change from the Great Lakes or anywhere else east of Iowa or Nebraska. I suppose we could build a few dozen gigawatt-sized nuclear reactors in a chain across the Midwest and Southwest, all dedicated solely to pumping water

The same concept mostly applies to desalination plants on the cost: to make enough water to make a difference in the drought would require so many plants, consuming so much energy, that it would bankrupt the state of California trying to do such a thing.

People don't seem to understand the scale of how much water we consume in this country. We have this idea that since we can move millions of barrels of oil a day, we could simply do the same with water. What few seem to consider is that the amount of water we consume absolutely dwarfs the amount of water we consume daily. The water directly consumed by us, the stuff coming out of our taps, is tiny compared to the water we don't see: the water we use for agriculture and industry. A desal. plant can supply a city's drinking water needs, but not come close to supplying the farms and factories that support the economy that city is based upon.