ELi5: Why can’t we build a giant water pipeline across the US? I live in north east US and we get an insane amount of precipitation. Can’t we help out the west by moving some of that to them?
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really short answer? Water is heavy.
It takes a TON of energy to move that much mass around, especially over or through the mountains, and we use water at a rate which absolutely dwarfs petroleum products where we’ve used pipelines for efficient movement in the past. It also doesn’t generate nearly as much revenue at the point of consumption so moving it doesn’t pay for itself the way it does with petroleum products.
Moving water is a major project and while it’s doable if you can let gravity do the work from high altitude areas to low, it’s mostly not practical in any sense if you have to move it long distances without gravity on your side or especially AGAINST gravity. A short run to a water tower is fine, but you’re not going over mountains with a significant quantity of water.
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