NASA predicts "Megadrought" yet to come (Columbia: 2015, centers)

[Tulemutt]

Sweet. A new disaster prediction. But what the hay, with everyone moving to Texas in droves, there should be enough water left to get by for the few foolish enough to remain behind.

A Megadrought coming

[UB50]

Instead of the Keystone pipeline, why doesn't this country build a water pipeline from the East Coast to Lake Mead? It seems like it would be more beneficial....

[Ruth4Truth]

Well, it's a good thing the explosion in rents in the Bay Area drove me to move to WA instead. At least there will be water.

[chuckmann]

Originally Posted by UB50

Instead of the Keystone pipeline, why doesn't this country build a water pipeline from the East Coast to Lake Mead? It seems like it would be more beneficial....

Way back in the day, and I mean WAY back, there were some who proposed a water pipeline from Washington and Oregon into California to forestall the negative effects of drought. You should have heard the Pacific North Westerners scream like banshees!!!!!!

From those days in the early 70's I have always favored a grid of pipelines to move whatever to wherever. Silly me.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Sweet. A new disaster prediction. But what the hay, with everyone moving to Texas in droves, there should be enough water left to get by for the few foolish enough to remain behind.

A Megadrought coming

Hurray! Another Chicken Little prediction. Gotta luv 'em. Lemme see here. In 35 years I'll be 103 or 104, or more likely will have assumed room temperature by then. My children will run from 62 to 80 and my grandchildren from 37 to 57. Either it won't happen, some of us won't be around to care or by then, or people and science will have learned to cope.

Pardon me if I don't go into a flurry of worry about it.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by chuckmann

Way back in the day, and I mean WAY back, there were some who proposed a water pipeline from Washington and Oregon into California to forestall the negative effects of drought. You should have heard the Pacific North Westerners scream like banshees!!!!!!

From those days in the early 70's I have always favored a grid of pipelines to move whatever to wherever. Silly me.

Well, I always heard that the Seattle area functioned in part on imported water from British Columbia. I'm not sure how that rumor got started, but others say it isn't true. But in drier conditions, WA wouldn't have water to spare for CA. They'd need their own diminished supply for themselves. Remember, with warming temps, there would be little, if any, snowpack, holding the water supply for the spring/summer months. Rain patterns would also shift. British Columbia has been having huge forest fires, and also massive timber die-off from bark beetle infestations for about 10 years, now. BC will need their water, too. Everyone's going to be fighting to hang on to whatever water they have. CA and AZ will be toast. I'm not sure why NASA didn't include NM and TX in their prediction.

CO will be running short, too. They already prohibit water catchment. It's illegal to catch rainwater in Colorado. The State wants all the rain going into the groundwater and surface water supply. Meanwhile, NM water authorities encourage water catchment.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by UB50

Instead of the Keystone pipeline, why doesn't this country build a water pipeline from the East Coast to Lake Mead? It seems like it would be more beneficial....

That would be some very expensive water because you would have to pump it pretty much the entire way. the continent slopes upward from east to west.

This is what happens when we build large population centers in areas too arid to sustain them.

[DMenscha]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

That would be some very expensive water because you would have to pump it pretty much the entire way. the continent slopes upward from east to west.

That's why we should only build pipelines that run from the north to the south. It's all downhill. [/joke]

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by chuckmann

From those days in the early 70's I have always favored a grid of pipelines to move whatever to wherever. Silly me.

Yeah! Like pot!
(Well, you said you thought of it back in the 70's)

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

That's why we should only build pipelines that run from the north to the south. It's all downhill. [/joke]

At my age, that's no joke anymore