[quote=DataAgent][quote=FlyerInHi]Can we not build a big pipeline to bring water from the Mississippi or Canada? Something on a Hoover dam scale, but proportionately bigger in relation to the size of the current economy.
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The third straw cost almost $1B for a 3 mile pipeline. Las Vegas is about 1500 miles from the Mississippi River. Forget the cost, who would have the authority to build such a pipeline across 4 states?
Thinking big, why not build a pipeline to the CA central coast and grab all the Pacific Ocean water you could get? Just add a couple of desal plants and NV would never have to worry about water again.[/quote]
[quote=Myriad]The state should focus on building a massive water distribution and storage network before wasting money on LA-SF HSR. Whereas the HSR only really benefits city dwellers, water is needed by pretty much everyone, especially inland farmers.
One could make the argument that agriculture that comes from CA (quantity & value), having enough water for farming is of national importance.
BINGO!… the reason its a dumb idea to build a water way that goes up and over the continental divide is,… financing cost($) and basic physics (i.e. real e$tate cost$ once a route is selected, amount of concrete needed, power requirements to pump water once the structure is built, etc.)
in general the BIGGEST problem w/ basic infrastructure is its boring, in other words people only miss it when its gone,… on the other hand a fancy choo choo train is something that politicians and career bureaucrats can do a ribbon cutting ceremony w/ joe six pack and the family
FYI actually threw in some money into a start up a few years ago that was going to do a water project in the central valley,… unfortunately the preferred stock offering didn’t raise the min required so my money was refunded,…
[quote] Solar Thermal Desalination Now Underway in Water-hungry California
…The controversial Carlsbad desalination project’s latest projected cost is now $1 billion.
It will suck in 100 million gallons of San Diego’s seawater a day and force it through a series of filters to produce 50 million gallons of water a day using high-pressure reverse osmosis.
A modest solar thermal desalination alternative now quietly undergoing permitting inland would produce 5 million gallons of water, about one tenth of that of Carlsbad, but at a much lower cost of just $30 million, using a solar distillation process.
actually thought if the pilot solar desal plant worked in the central valley, the next logical steps would be solar desal in the imperial valley along w/ perhaps a inlet from the sea of cortez going toward the salon sea area (which is a natural “sink”)
[quote] How water from Mexico can save the Salton Sea
…Filling the Salton Sea with imported water from Mexico is not a new idea. The proposal has been around in one form or another since the 1970s. While the idea has a track record of inspiring excitement, support hasn’t translated to funding.
Previous studies – including by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Salton Sea Authority – deemed it too costly to pull off.
But the tides have changed.
At the beginning of 2018 the Imperial Irrigation District is set to cut off flow of water from Colorado River into the Salton Sea, as required by the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement. Once that happens, the lake’s decline is expected to accelerate.
