possibilities of a megadrought

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by docmcstuffin

All of this talk about drought can easily be solved by diverting money that was set aside to build the bullet train into building desalination plants. $1B plant can serve about 300k households, so if we spend $100B, we can serve 30M household. That's enough to serve about 78.9% of CA's population. We can even go overboard and spend $200B and have enough water to serve California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. Technologies will help us deal with climate change pretty easily.

This is what the United Arab Emerites (UAE) have done in the Middle East. The UAE has turned the scorched deserts of Abu Dhabi and Dubai into thriving population centers. All of the water necessary for this comes from desalination plants. There is an additional tax on properties for water, which I admit sucks, however it sure beats not having water!

Due to stringent CA environmental regulations, it's likely future desalination plants would end up being built in Mexico. However, if we need water bad enough, we'll find a way to make it happen in the US.

[docmcstuffin]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

This is what the United Arab Emerites (UAE) have done in the Middle East. The UAE has turned the scorched deserts of Abu Dhabi and Dubai into thriving population centers. All of the water necessary for this comes from desalination plants. There is an additional tax on properties for water, which I admit sucks, however it sure beats not having water!

Due to stringent CA environmental regulations, it's likely future desalination plants would end up being built in Mexico. However, if we need water bad enough, we'll find a way to make it happen in the US.

I don't think it suck to have a tax added to your property for water. It's just part of the cost of living here. We have to technology to do this. We chose to live in the desert, so we have to be prepared to pay for the costs that's needed to live in a desert. I rather pay to have all the water I want vs having water rationing.

The rich people in Montecitos are having water trucked in instead of cutting back or paying the city's fine due to rationing. There's no reason why we should make water a luxury that only rich people can have.