More Ideas on Getting Water to a Parched Idaho

A friend is fond of telling me a stopped clock is right twice a day. Sometimes I find myself on the same side of an argument with a liberal. Not always for the same reasons but for the same outcome. This is a link from a publication called Fast Company. The writers believe we can slake the thirst of the parched west by piping water from the east. In this specific case, from Louisiana, where at least one of the authors once lived. It gets more than its share of rain and has the Mississippi River. Where we differ is how to pipe it west.

They suggest the pipelines used to move oil. They believe traditional fuels are on the way out and the massive network can find a new use.

I had suggested we have a new piping system from the Great Lakes and a recent guest on my radio program offered we could divert some of the headwaters of the Missouri River. From Montana and then pump it over the mountains westward. My idea received a firm rebuke from a scientist warning my plan would harm the delicate habitat of the lakes, which are littered with garbage and shipwrecks.

A guy in Idaho Falls called me an idiot because he didn’t understand how we would get water over the mountains. Heck, even the Romans solved this in some cases. You would think engineers didn’t exist in our times! My critic then seemed to imply we could bring the product from the coast over the Cascades. I’m not sure his argument holds water (get it!)

Oh, and earlier this week I read where fracking technology is being applied near Reno. For geothermal energy. Water goes down, steam comes up. We’re living in triumphant times for engineering.

Look, the United States had no engineering schools in the early 1800s and, yet. Amateur engineers built locks and scaled the Niagara Escarpment to complete the Erie Canal. We can today easily build some pumps for hills and mountains.

For one last argument in favor of pipelines, check out HBO’s Bill Maher, although. Use caution if you don’t like strong language.

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