3 ms·

So basically, we need a pipeline from Houston to California.

by peterwwillis 9y ago

secabeen 9y ago
Yeah, and the pumps/tunnels to get it over/under the Rockies and the Sierras.
jboles 9y ago
US already has a wall to build.
AnimalMuppet 9y ago
To make at least a dent in Houston's problems, it would have to be able to move 10 trillion gallons in a few days. But, hey, let's give it all year, just to make it easier. That's 27 billion gallons a day, just over a billion gallons an hour, 19 million gallons a minute, or 317,000 gallons a second. That's... improbable. That's 508,000 cubic feet per second. Assuming a velocity of 1000 miles per hour, or 1467 feet per second (also improbable), you'd need a cross section of 346 square feet. That's a pipe that is 21 feet in diameter, which is not completely impossible. Or four pipes that are each 10.5 feet in diameter. That's doable. The 1000 miles per hour pumping speed is a bit of an obstacle, though...
sapienthomo 9y ago
California has only 20 million acre feet of reservoir capacity, which is currently filled to 125% of typical levels. The last thing that state needs is another 75 million acre feet of water.
- dv_dt 9y ago
  A pipe delivering enough to refill groundwater levels in CA would still be very useful though...
- gozur88 9y ago
  We could have a "water your lawn" day and use up a bunch without touching the reservoirs.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  California has very roughly a billion acre-feet of groundwater capacity[0], and it is so severely depleted from being pumped out to cope with surface-water shortfalls over the years that the Central Valley is sinking (and eroding groundwater capacity in the process.) California doesn't need 75 million more acre-feet of surface water, but it could probably benefit from multiples of that being pumped back into the ground. [0] CA Dept of Water Resources estimates between 850 million and 1.3 billion, http://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/groundwater/recharge/ http://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/groundwater/recharge/
jhayward 9y ago
You jest, but there are serious (abstract) proposals[2][1] to build inter-regional water banking mechanisms, such as pumping water from flood years in the Missouri/Mississippi watershed to be stored in CA/NV aquifers, and vice versa. It's not a bad idea. [1] http://www.hcn.org/issues/47.4/the-water-czar-who-reshaped-colorado-river-politics http://www.hcn.org/issues/47.4/the-water-czar-who-reshaped-c... [2] https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/exit-interview-mulroy-talks-about-her-life-as-las-vegas-water-chief-2/ https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/exit-interview-mulroy-tal...

So basically, we need a pipeline from Houston to California.

secabeen 9y ago

Yeah, and the pumps/tunnels to get it over/under the Rockies and the Sierras.

jboles 9y ago

US already has a wall to build.

AnimalMuppet 9y ago

To make at least a dent in Houston's problems, it would have to be able to move 10 trillion gallons in a few days. But, hey, let's give it all year, just to make it easier. That's 27 billion gallons a day, just over a billion gallons an hour, 19 million gallons a minute, or 317,000 gallons a second. That's... improbable. That's 508,000 cubic feet per second. Assuming a velocity of 1000 miles per hour, or 1467 feet per second (also improbable), you'd need a cross section of 346 square feet. That's a pipe that is 21 feet in diameter, which is not completely impossible. Or four pipes that are each 10.5 feet in diameter. That's doable. The 1000 miles per hour pumping speed is a bit of an obstacle, though...

sapienthomo 9y ago

California has only 20 million acre feet of reservoir capacity, which is currently filled to 125% of typical levels. The last thing that state needs is another 75 million acre feet of water.

dv_dt 9y ago
A pipe delivering enough to refill groundwater levels in CA would still be very useful though...
gozur88 9y ago
We could have a "water your lawn" day and use up a bunch without touching the reservoirs.
dragonwriter 9y ago
California has very roughly a billion acre-feet of groundwater capacity[0], and it is so severely depleted from being pumped out to cope with surface-water shortfalls over the years that the Central Valley is sinking (and eroding groundwater capacity in the process.) California doesn't need 75 million more acre-feet of surface water, but it could probably benefit from multiples of that being pumped back into the ground. [0] CA Dept of Water Resources estimates between 850 million and 1.3 billion, http://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/groundwater/recharge/ http://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/groundwater/recharge/

jhayward 9y ago

You jest, but there are serious (abstract) proposals[2][1] to build inter-regional water banking mechanisms, such as pumping water from flood years in the Missouri/Mississippi watershed to be stored in CA/NV aquifers, and vice versa. It's not a bad idea. [1] http://www.hcn.org/issues/47.4/the-water-czar-who-reshaped-colorado-river-politics http://www.hcn.org/issues/47.4/the-water-czar-who-reshaped-c... [2] https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/exit-interview-mulroy-talks-about-her-life-as-las-vegas-water-chief-2/ https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/exit-interview-mulroy-tal...