William Shatner starting 30 billion dollar kickstart to end California water shortage

[Zontar]

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/exclusive-william-shatners-30-billion-116672789084.html

So William Shatner is planning to start a 30 billion dollar pipeline to bring water from Seattle (which has a massive excess of drinking water) to California, which is currently in the middle of a 4 year drought.

Personally I think it's crazy. Sure desalination isn't the best idea but it seems a more practical one in my honest but unprofessional opinion.

Captcha: rainy days

Mind reading again captcha?

 

[Aerosteam]

Seems like a pipe dream to me.

 

[Rabbitboy]

I don't see it happening so long as water is cheaper than oil and even then you could always recycle your own urine.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Seems like a good way to raise awareness of the issue.

I mean, it's got us talking about it now.

Shatner conceded that even if he?s not able to raise the money, the effort will at least raise consciousness about the severity of California?s drought.

?If I don?t make 30 billion, I?ll give the money to a politician who says, ?I?ll build it.? Obviously, it?s to raise awareness that something more than just closing your tap ? so why not a pipeline??

Although I think Shatner may not have realised that you have to raise all your asking funds before any money will be given to you - It's all or nothing, and as it is every single person in America would have to give $1000 to raise enough money.

 

[Pandalisk]

I will forever feel guilty about the 20 minute shower I took when on holiday there three years ago.

Is there not anything else ye can do? When I was in the central valley a tour guide was giving me statistics on the gallons and gallons of fecking water you need for all that farming. That or shower less?

 

[Tiger King]

Interesting, I watched a documentary of particularly poor quality the other day (not content though), on the issue of California water shortage.
It was set homework for my girlfriends geology class. I remember hearing the word geology and thinking 'oh dear lord this is going to be boring'.

Anyhow, many years ago when people started flocking to L.A., it was assumed that water supply would not be an issue as several projects were planned to build a pipeline from Alaska to California, but none were ever built. Over the years some pipelines were made that siphoned water from nearby lakes and a few of them them are completely dry now.

Kinda sad that the environment is being ruined to support an artificial city, I hope something sustainable gets sorted, otherwise it may be only a matter of time before more places run dry and other water sources like Lake Tahoe are siphoned off.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

The sad thing is, the water shortage wouldn't be as big an issue if the city of Los Angeles just fixed their fucking water distribution infrastructure. As it is every day hundreds of gallons of drinking water are wasted because of pipes bursting around the city. These get covered on the news every so often, but only the really bad ones (like when a water main bursts and floods an entire street for multiple days) and this happens every goddamn day. They just patch the pipes and move on instead of ever actually fixing or replacing anything because it's too expensive and too much of a hassle to do.

 

[EvilRoy]

The sad thing is, the water shortage wouldn't be as big an issue if the city of Los Angeles just fixed their fucking water distribution infrastructure. As it is every day hundreds of gallons of drinking water are wasted because of pipes bursting around the city. These get covered on the news every so often, but only the really bad ones (like when a water main bursts and floods an entire street for multiple days) and this happens every goddamn day. They just patch the pipes and move on instead of ever actually fixing or replacing anything because it's too expensive and too much of a hassle to do.

The problem with repairing systemic infrastructure issues is that there is very rarely an 'easy' or 'good' way to do it. Usually you end up having to build secondary systems first on top of everything else, so you can shut down the primary systems to do a full overhaul. But this is even worse with roads and pipes than it is with any other sort of infrastructure, since if a pipe or a road is in a shitty spot, there actually just isn't anything you can do about it. The pipes and roads can't move because the everything in the area was built around those pipes and roads being where they are - so if they actually just fucked up from the get go, then fucked they shall remain until some reasonable way is found to put in new stuff under or through existing buildings.

Seems like a pipe dream to me.

GAAAAAA.

 

[asinann]

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/exclusive-william-shatners-30-billion-116672789084.html

So William Shatner is planning to start a 30 billion dollar pipeline to bring water from Seattle (which has a massive excess of drinking water) to California, which is currently in the middle of a 4 year drought.

Personally I think it's crazy. Sure desalination isn't the best idea but it seems a more practical one in my honest but unprofessional opinion.

Captcha: rainy days

Mind reading again captcha?

There isn't a an excess of drinking water in Seattle right now: the Pacific Northwest is suffering from a drought too. The snowfall in the mountains this year was so light that there is a good chance there may actually be water suggestions (please only water on odd days, but no teeth to it) this year. All of the water that isn't being used west of the mountains is getting piped east of the mountains to water the orchards: you like apples, right?

 

[Lilani]

Seems like a pipe dream to me.

Yeah, this idea is all washed up.

Anyway, I think this money would be better spent on infrastructure to conserve water. Recapture systems, waste water purification, etc. They would take about as long to build and become effective and would be much more beneficial in the long term.

 

[Abbyka]

If he managed to do this then there would have to be a way to prevent Nestle from just bottling the water for sale. Scumbags really need to stop doing that but, from what I understand, it's kind of too late at this point.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Speaking as a San Diegan, I have no idea what to think about this. I mean, I guess it'd be better than going back to stealing the Colorado River from Mexico, and it'd be less energy-intensive than desalination (that might actually work better in the long run since we have a crapton of coastline, that we're all relatively close to, but I'm not sure the tech is there, yet).

Well, either way, I guess I'm genuinely grateful.

Seems like a pipe dream to me.

Yeah, this idea is all washed up.

Maybe he's gotten rusty after so much work.

 

[xorldain]

This sounds an awfully like other proposals by cities like Las-Vegas that want water from the Great Lakes. The problem being that their plans usually draining the lakes in dangerous amount for the ecosystem.

 

[likalaruku]

Part of the problem with the water shortage in California AND Wisconsin is Pepsico & Nestle stealing local drinking water & selling it back to people in bottles. If you can't take down big business, then this is a nice alternative. I can tell you from experience that Seattle's idea of a drought is when it doesn't rain for a whole week.

 

[Abbyka]

Part of the problem with the water shortage in California AND Wisconsin is Pepsico & Nestle stealing local drinking water & selling it back to people in bottles. If you can't take down big business, then this is a nice alternative. I can tell you from experience that Seattle's idea of a drought is when it doesn't rain for a whole week.

Holy shit I knew nothing about them doing it in WI. D: I live there. Is this recent?

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/exclusive-william-shatners-30-billion-116672789084.html

So William Shatner is planning to start a 30 billion dollar pipeline to bring water from Seattle (which has a massive excess of drinking water) to California, which is currently in the middle of a 4 year drought.

Personally I think it's crazy. Sure desalination isn't the best idea but it seems a more practical one in my honest but unprofessional opinion.

Captcha: rainy days

Mind reading again captcha?

Yeah Seattle and the whole of the Pacific Northwest are both suffering from the drought too. The East/West flood/drought cycle is nothing new, this shifts every half decade to two decades, it's essentially a normal thing for North America. We have some problems with WHERE cities have been built. First off everything in the LA area is in the middle of the damn desert. This was already an ecology that couldn't really support a large population, same problem with Las Vegas. That's a huge problem all by it self. Let alone building cities ocean side when the ocean over the entire history of humanity, let alone the earth's history of the change in sea levels. But that's another subject entirely.

What the real issue is, there are far too many people in the LA area, plus they're farming land that's unsuitable without outside water. The area has been headed for these water problems for decades, now they're blaming global climate change, instead of their stupid short sighted misuse of the area's water resources. This has been a problem that they knew about for over half a century. They didn't limit the population growth, they didn't stop the wasting of water by the billions of gallons, now the problem has come home to roost.

California already steals so much of Nevada's water to try to keep LA and the surrounding area moist, now they wanna steal from Washington too. Another short sighted exploitative move with water they have absolutely NO right to. Seriously California needs to stop making it's problems, a problem for neighbouring states and fix the issues them selves. California has badly exploitative taxes that go to pad peoples pockets, rather than combat real problems.

 

[likalaruku]

Part of the problem with the water shortage in California AND Wisconsin is Pepsico & Nestle stealing local drinking water & selling it back to people in bottles. If you can't take down big business, then this is a nice alternative. I can tell you from experience that Seattle's idea of a drought is when it doesn't rain for a whole week.

Holy shit I knew nothing about them doing it in WI. D: I live there. Is this recent?

I have some podcasters in Wisconsin who complain about it. If you look up "Wisconsin drinking water shortage" you get a lot of news from 2013 & 2014.

Looks like it's not so hot for Utah either.

 

[Wiggum Esquilax]

Looking at pictures of California farms there aren't even windbreaks. How many farmers irrigate by just spraying water into the air? Approximately 40% of that water is lost, as opposed to 10% with more efficient practices.

How many people water their lawns? Hose their cars instead of using a cloth? How many people hose wash their driveways?! A lawn like Hank Hill's should never have existed in the first place. Self-inflicted wound is self-inflicted. STOP IT.

 

[Abbyka]

Looking at pictures of California farms there aren't even windbreaks. How many farmers irrigate by just spraying water into the air? Approximately 40% of that water is lost, as opposed to 10% with more efficient practices.

How many people water their lawns? Hose their cars instead of using a cloth? How many people hose wash their driveways?! A lawn like Hank Hill's should never have existed in the first place. Self-inflicted wound is self-inflicted. STOP IT.

Thanks. I'll look it up now. It pissed me off enough when it was affecting my friends in CA but knowing it could be even affecting my children here in WI really gets my blood boiling. D: