Let's drain the Ocean!, Part II

     Pumping the Ocean dry, Part II


      It will never work!


      It is almost guaranteed that the wisdom of the crowd can tell you why this won’t work.


1.  Saltwater is very corrosive and difficult to manage. 


     Yes, but the U.S. Navy knows more about saltwater than anybody on Earth.  They can help.


2.  What will we do with the salt that is condensed out?


     We manage far more toxic chemicals than salt.


3a.  If we try to pump water inland from the Pacific Ocean we can not get it over the Rocky Mountains to the mid-west where we need water.


     Of course we can, it’s a matter of the cost.


3b.   A corn farmer in the Midwest who only loses his crop every 5 years due to drought   will never pay for water.


      Don’t be so sure.  Ask a farmer how he would plan the future if he had water available for irrigation for the next 50 years so he would never lose a crop.  Now that corn has gone from $2.00 to $8.00 a bushel, there is more incentive to not fail.


4.   What if we pipe it to drought areas and then they have rainy years?


     There will be a need for multiple drop points.  It will take time.  We have electricity going to every house in the U. S.  We have gas and oil pipe lines that cross the U. S.  We can have water pipe lines.


5.  The idea of combining a solar collector that uses water can not be adapted to saltwater.


     Ok.  That idea was obvious because it is a technology that exists in California and could help justify the cost.  If other desalination methods are cheaper, then do that, but increase the volume tremendously and pump the water inland.


6.  It will be cheaper for millions of people with beach front property to just move inland.


     Maybe


7.  Because water seeks its own level, it would be impossible to pump water away from the coastline fast enough to keep it from refilling.


     From the book, Deep Water, one scientist, Jerry Mitrovica, says that the ‘bathtub model’ is not true.  He says that local sea level almost never equals global sea level.


     Once again, smart engineers could give an opinion about gaining ground from localized water pumping.


8.  Since this will have to be a public works project of tremendous scale, many politicians will have to support it.  It will be seen as folly until a major city is underwater.


     This will be the major reason this will never happen in time to save our coastline.



How do you boil a live frog?


     Put him in a pot of water and slowly raise the heat.  He loves the nice warm water until it’s too late and he cooks.