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How expensive/difficult would it be to create two irrigation canals: one from the Gulf of Calfornia, and one from Texas? The Grand Canal in China is 1,100 mile

How expensive/difficult would it be to create two irrigation canals: one from the Gulf of Calfornia, and one from Texas? The Grand Canal in China is 1,100 miles long. Houston to Albuquerque is about 1,300. Puerto Peñasco is 250 miles to Phoenix. Add another 300 and you’re in Vegas. Seems doable if drought will be a recurring concern. Obviously salinity would be an issue but I don’t know how difficult that would actually be to fix for agriculture. Edit: now that I look at a map, the Red River in Texas seems fairly substantial and goes all the way into eastern New Mexico.

ttfkam 5y ago
You mean dredging through Mexican territory across several roads and a nature preserve? Probably be a lot more doable without a border wall, American xenophobia, and the inherent diplomatic challenges such rhetoric has caused over the years. And yes, the salt water presents its own challenges on top of that.
- keiferski 5y ago
  I imagine that the areas of Mexico near the border would support a canal, if it meant the (US) region would continue to be economically productive. If everyone just left Arizona, it would hurt the Mexican border towns too.
JoshuaDavid 5y ago
You could maybe do a canal from the Gulf of California to the Salton sink and desalinate the water, which would help somewhat with the demands on water from the Colorado River. There are diplomatic (the canal would have to pass through Mexico to reach the US) and environmental concerns (where do you put the brine after you desalinate the water? Either you dump it in the Salton Sea, which is already an environmental catastrophe, or you pipe it _back_ across Mexico and dump it back into the Gulf of California, where you also cause a lot of damage if you don't distribute it well enough). Still, it's a question worth asking and I don't know why you're being downvoted.
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ttfkam 5y ago

You mean dredging through Mexican territory across several roads and a nature preserve? Probably be a lot more doable without a border wall, American xenophobia, and the inherent diplomatic challenges such rhetoric has caused over the years. And yes, the salt water presents its own challenges on top of that.

keiferski 5y ago
I imagine that the areas of Mexico near the border would support a canal, if it meant the (US) region would continue to be economically productive. If everyone just left Arizona, it would hurt the Mexican border towns too.

JoshuaDavid 5y ago

You could maybe do a canal from the Gulf of California to the Salton sink and desalinate the water, which would help somewhat with the demands on water from the Colorado River. There are diplomatic (the canal would have to pass through Mexico to reach the US) and environmental concerns (where do you put the brine after you desalinate the water? Either you dump it in the Salton Sea, which is already an environmental catastrophe, or you pipe it _back_ across Mexico and dump it back into the Gulf of California, where you also cause a lot of damage if you don't distribute it well enough). Still, it's a question worth asking and I don't know why you're being downvoted.

deleted 5y ago

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