We pipeline oil from Canada to Texas, why can’t we pipeline water from the Great lakes to the south?
Edit: thank you all who replied, I’ve gathered that it is technically possible, but would come with a huge amount of legal, environmental, and practical issues due to the amount of water that would actually be needed. It sounds like there are far more practical solutions available if the need became dire enough.
In: 45
All the same reasons we Don’t let them have it from the Missouri:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.azcentral.com/amp/7436318002
One more thing – Salt. Almost all surface and groundwater contains dissolved minerals and salts. Export that water to an arid location and you WILL accumulate salt in the environment. Over time, this will have many negative effects on the soil structure and fertility. Eventually the soil will be unable to grow anything. Not good.
They did, it’s called the Colorado River… Any available water apparently means no boundaries open season on development. Might be a better idea to not drive growth to unsustainable regions of the country.
Technically, we do.
There are several large pipelines from the Sacramento River area (which empties into the northern San Francisco Bay) to LA and San Diego. It’s expensive, it requires a certain amount of maintenance – but it does work.
It doesn’t work in other areas because the combination of cost and political will: if it’s not all in one state, it’s highly unlikely that unless the US government gets involved, the states aren’t going to agree on how to make it work.
Back in the age of conquering the arid west there were even plans considered for piping water from Alaska to LA. Man’s hubris was something to behold!
I was watching a documentary on Libya which implemented something like this.
Because the folks who live around the Great Lakes will fucking riot. We’re not dumb enough to live in a desert, why should our water be taken?
Keep your paws off of my lakes
We do pipe water there – that’s how they have water in the first place. There couldn’t be cities or agriculture in the southern half of California without importing the water. Los Angeles gets its water pumped from the Colorado River and over a mountain range.
Why don’t we pump more? They’re always complaining about a drought! Well, because despite noisy politicians playing the eco-card, there actually is enough water. It’s tight – which makes things harder than in other states where water is abundant – but they get enough that they can manage.
Apart from all the other reasons given, the most stark is that while the Great Lakes represent a large reservoir of water, only about 1% is renewed annually.
[Great Lakes as a renewable resource](https://www.michigan.gov/egle/0,9429,7-135-3313_3677_3704-12566–,00.html#:~:text=Although%20the%20total%20volume%20in,and%20inflow%20from%20groundwater%20sources.)
[Great Lakes water use and diversions](https://www.watershedcouncil.org/great-lakes-water-use-and-diversions.html)
As a Canadian and resident on a Great Lake I’m against transferring water out of the Great Lakes as a matter of principal, but these are non-partisan, bi-national links. Once we start drawing down the water account, it’s gone forever, much like living off the principal in your investment account, instead of living within your means on the interest.
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