Transporting Water

Fresh water is becoming ever-more valuable simply because the world has a fixed supply of it while the population is exploding. Thus, there is continually less fresh water per person. This means that rivers will become as valuable as oil wells are today.

There have already been ideas about moving vast amounts of fresh water from one place to another such as towing an iceberg to the Middle East. I notice that areas of too much water and areas of drought are often within several hundred kilometers of each other. We transport large amounts of oil and gas by pipeline. It seems to me as inevitable that we will do the same with water.

Why can't we begin large-scale shipping and piping of fresh water from where there is too much of it to where there is too little of it? Sea level is increasing because ice from Greenland is sliding into the ocean due to global warming. We can counter this by taking water from the mouths of rivers that is about to flow into the sea and sending it to dry areas devoid of water.

This will not only absorb excess water but will greatly increase the production of food. There is plenty of tension in the world over supplies of fresh water. In the U.S., dry western states like California, Nevada and, Arizona would very much like some of the water in the Great Lakes. The states around the lakes are just as determined that they not get it.

The solution is to take the water from the mouth of rivers, such as the Mississippi, which will only flow into the ocean anyway. The mouth of a river is the ideal place from which to scoop fresh water because it is the zone between fresh water and salt water. Aquatic plants and fish almost always live in one or the other but not both.

Thus, there will be minimal disturbance of the natural environment. When cross-country highways are built, why not use parallel pipes as a foundation for the roadway so that water can be sent through the pipes from where there is too much of it to where it is needed? Since we are depleting the fish in the oceans for food, why not use excess water to flood low-lying areas to create fish farms? Species of fish such as catfish grow especially well on farms.

In the Western Desert of Egypt, there is an area below sea level called the Qattara Depression. Years ago, the idea emerged to dig a canal to the Mediterranean Sea and fill it with water while generating hydroelectricity in the process. Why not fill it with fresh water instead? The Chinese government puts so much effort into trying to control the weather to improve agriculture, why not start simply transporting large amounts of water.