That’s silly. We should build humanoid robots and give each of them two 5 gallon buckets and a GPS capability
Mike
That’s silly. We should build humanoid robots and give each of them two 5 gallon buckets and a GPS capability
Mike
Our ancient but now hopelessly obsolete systems of water rights and ownership, especially as regards aquifers and watersheds, results in water prices that are extreme distortions and lead to ever more stupid and wasteful uses of water.
Reforming water rights law, buying out a significant portion of water rights from current holders, albeit horrifically expensive, is our best shot at fixing the mess and would be long term a big savings.
We will not find the political will to do it for quite some time.
d fb
d fb
Please, no. I may have opened the door…but let’s not create the opportunity for the robot thread shenanigans to migrate over.
A few points from the linked information -
Since 2016, the Carlsbad desalination plant in CA has produced 100 billion gallons of drinking water at double the cost of Colorado River water.
Las Vegas loses 6 billion gallons each year due to evaporative coolers.
Conclusion - We shouldn’t go chasin’ desal, please stick to the rivers and the lakes that we’re used to.
@eldemonio, et al
The take away line in Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert is “Water flows uphill toward money.”
So let’s move to the silly notion that salinization is the solution.
Agency unanimously rejects California desalination project | AP News.
Andy
Will there be enough charging stations for the robots to avoid getting range anxiety?
—Peter
No. No it can’t without extraordinary energy costs and thousands of miles of redundant pipelines crossing complex geographies. The sorts of pipelines that would be necessary would be immense. And more importantly: acquirers are not unlimited. You can overpump them (just like my pump here at home) resulting in drawdown which can impact surrounding land, or run out an acquirer prematurely because it cannot recharge quickly enough.
You seem to be keen on “cites”. Try this:
Withdrawal of a thousand gallons per minute (a common pumping rate for high volume wells) is an unnaturally rapid change in a groundwater system … Initially, water level drops very rapidly in the immediate vicinity of the well. This lowering of the water table is known as *drawdown* , and may amount to many tens of feet (see figure 1 below). This is why thinly saturated zones are unsuitable for high volume pumping even if substantial water is present
https://www.kgs.ku.edu/HighPlains/atlas/apdrdwn.htm
Here is a link for you.
Did you even read your own link? I have bolded the important part to make it easier for you to find:
Las Vegas Springs was once the site of three springs, running into two large pools of water. It is a site historically known for a gathering of pioneers and Native Americans and early settlers in the Las Vegas Valley. In 1905, it provided the water source to the budding town and railroad. Once pipe lines were laid and wells were drilled, the water table dropped, and the springs stopped flowing to the surface in 1962. The site is currently undergoing rehabilitation to protect what remains architecturally and archaeologically.[[6]]
Yes, that’s right. The acquifer was over pumped and no longer produces water for the town. Or for anything. It’s closed. Maybe someday it will again - but not now. Capiche?
LOL! How do you know 12 nuclear power plants are enough?
Each nuclear plant costs $30 billion and 10 years to build
Each nuclear power plant needs lots of cooling water
Do you have a link for that?
That is the problem with education now. They are always looking to argue instead of solve.
And
What “Goofy” didn’t understand was I said “recharged”. It’s amazing what someone who is educating our children would not understand. I used to say that teachers were the back bone of our education system. Now I am starting to think that might have been Hyperbole. I guess when I hear Goofy I really should think “Goofy”.
Andy
Come on now, there’s no reason to get sassy.
Some of us are dreamers, who propose bold ideas with little understanding on how to actually make them work. That’s cool. Others are more detailed oriented and realistic on what can actually be accomplished. That’s cool too.
LOL! How do you know 12 nuclear power plants are enough?
USBR has studied moving Mississippi river water to Arizona. Part of the plan called for Nuclear power plants along the right of way to power the pumping stations. The number was around 12.
Here ya go - for some interesting reading:
Thanks Volucris I wasn’t aware of that study.
Andy
If you’re going to build a long pipeline, wouldn’t it be easier, shorter and cheaper to tap the mighty Columbia River (273,000 cubic feet per second)? The distance is shorter; the passes are lower (or along the coast without a pass).
DB2
Want to see an Oregonian completely flip-out? Tell them you want to send Oregon water to SoCal.
Aren’t most Oregonians just Californians that went North?
Andy
I thought the eastern Oregonians were just Floridians who moved west!
Or was that eastern Washington?
JimA
The California Aqueduct has many pumping stations and one big pumping station that that pumps water over the Tehachapi Mountains:
The Edmonston Pumping Plant, located at the northern edge of the Tehachapi Mountains, uses 14 pumps with 80,000 horsepower to lift water 1,926 feet. The plant has a total motor rating of 1,120,000 horsepower, which is the highest single-lift pumping plant in the world. The Edmonston Pumping Plant delivers up to 2.5 million acre-feet of water to Southern California water contractors.
1,120,000 horsepower = 835 MW = one nuclear power plant
And . . . .?
1,926 ft lift, 8,400 foot tunnel = 1 Nuke
6,000 to 7,000 ft lift, 6,500,000 foot aqueduct (straight line) = X Nukes? You fill in the X.
Not to mention the lifts (consumption) and drops (generation?) between the mighty Mississippi and somewhere along the Colorado.
All for a measly 2.5M acre feet.