Criss crossing the country with water channels, again.

[question everything]

I have posted this idea before.

Let's criss cross the country with channels that can carry water from excess to drought. No, not on a permanent basis but with spigots that can be turned on and off as needed.

I was actually surprised to learn that Florida is getting water from Georgia. With all the hurricanes that Florida has, I would think that it would be easier to channels all that water into that conservation place.

And Texas certainly got a lot of water this summer, as did Iowa and even parts of Minnesota. With water channels we could have sent some of this to Georgia and to other parched area and perhaps even help California now.

I also think - I am not an hydrology engineer - that having collecting channels can prevent flooding and damages to life and property.

And... building such a network will generate jobs at many skill levels, jobs that cannot be outsourced.

Sure such a task will be expensive, but how expensive are all the damages that are caused by floods, and drought, and fire?

[mike_c]

1. oh my-- the Bureau of Reclamation has a job for you!

Kidding aside, that's what's been going on in the west for the last 60 years or so, although perhaps on a smaller scale than you're suggesting (and man it seems weird to characterize something like California's water redistribution as "smaller scale!"). It has been fraught with legal problems, mainly because water is such a valuable commodity in much of the U.S. If you haven't read Cadillac Desert, I highly recommend it for an overview of water management in the U.S. It's western-centric, but very illuminating.

[question everything]

7. Except that the west in one big arid area

that is, the Southwest. Trying to move water from a dry are to a drought are is a losing game.

I think that this past summer, Houston and Des Moines and other areas that were flooded would have been happy to channel their floods westward.

[CottonBear]

2. Inter-basin transfers are a very bad idea and can destroy the ecology of a watershed.

The Chattahoochee River that begins in NE GA flows to ALabama and Florida. The people and the animal and aquatic life downstream need water too. GA, AL and FL have fought bitterly for years over this very issue.

I live in the Oconee River basin which is east of the Chattahoochee River basin. We are also running out of water in our reservoirs and rivers. It would not help to get water from another basin because there is none in any of our NE GA rivers.

We have overdeveloped and have not learned to conserve and now we are paying the price for our foolishness.

edit: Waters here in the east are "state waters" and belong to everyone. There is no such thing as "water rights" that can be bought and sold.

[OzarkDem]

3. Wasteful, expensive, ridiculous

Let's do the smart thing and stop developing areas that aren't sustainable for large populations and increase development in those that are.

Its not rocket science, it can be done. And for those foolish enough to move someplace where water is scarce, understand that risk up front and be prepared to sacrifice for it.

[question everything]

6. This "takes care" of the arid area

what about floods? Remember Katrina?

[Pathwalker]

4. I'd rather devolop Teleportation.

:evilgrin:

[OregonBlue]

5. We need a total, comprehensive water policy. We use water all over the West to grow crops that

can be grown in other areas with no irrigation what so ever. Southern California is growing alfalfa in the desert with water from the Colorado River. Texas has known for a very long time that they were pumping their aquifers dry and have chosen to go on irrigating cotton. So many bad policies that have to be changed. Until we get serious about a comprehensive water policy, we should not spend a dime. Read "Cadillac Desert" for the real story on how much water is just plain wasted in this country.

[question everything]

9. And yet, every acre that is dedicated to farming

is one acre less being developed, at least in Southern California.

[TankLV]

8. While I can see the idea of creating "cisterns" to capture all the FLOOD waters and channels to

safely carry it away - it would be ridiculuously expensive and wasteful at this point in time...

LA, Phoenix and Las Vegas are all equally UNSUSTAINABLE and should not have uncontrolled growth AT THE EXPENSE of other parts of the country...

[question everything]

10. Agree about LA, LV and Phoenix

but what about GA and the Southeast this year; Kansas and Minnesota earlier this year?

We are talking farming here were irrigation is really not part of the equation.

[SoCalDem]

11. Sorry, but we need to start DISCOURAGING people from moving

to arid places with no infrastructure..

Part of the problem we have now is because people fell prey to the land developers and their "cheap land" deals..

Moving "out" forever, eventually catches up with us..

If you live where there is no water, the best solution, is to move where there IS water..NOT to bring other people's water to YOU :)

[Romulox]

12. Not the rest of our job to enable ecologically unsustainable lifestyles in the West. nt