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Help support AmericanEnergyIndependence.com Water For All Water For All is a plan for the construction of public seawater aqueducts, pipelines and canals to distribute water from the ocean to arid and drought susceptible regions of the United States. Energy production requires water, lots of water. Much of the Southwestern United States is arid, lacking a natural water supply. Yet these regions have an abundance of sunshine. Solar energy and seawater make a good combination for the production of electricity, desalinated water, and biofuels. Compared to the coastal regions, the deserts of Southern California and much of Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico remain unpopulated. These desolate regions are dry, yet have an abundance of natural sunshine. Add water and you would have a beautiful warm place to live. The Salton Sea, located south of the famous Death Valley in the desert region of Southern California, is over 200 feet below sea level. The United States could provide unlimited water to the southwestern deserts if the federal government would build a canal between the Pacific Ocean and the Salton Sea. For example, the United States could negotiate a treaty with Mexico for a permanent right-of-way to build a canal to the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortés). The canal could be made large enough to provide an inland waterway that would transport large commercial barges between the Gulf of California and the Salton Sea; creating an inland harbor near the city of Indio, with easy access to rail or truck transport into Los Angeles — a proposal that would benefit commerce on both sides of the border and relieve commercial traffic congestion. An alternative to a canal from the Gulf of California would be an aqueduct directly from the Pacific Ocean near the city of San Diego. The water could be pumped up to a storage reservoir in the Laguna Mountains. Then the gravity potential of the reservoir could serve as a pumped hydro storage facility for peak time electricity generation. San Diego County could receive as much as 500 mega-watts of peak time electrical power from the facility. During low electricity demand periods late at night, cheap electricity would be used to pump ocean water from the Pacific up to the Laguna reservoir. Then, during the peak-time hours of the day, the stored ocean water would be released from the reservoir and allowed to flow through a pipe down to the Anza-Borrego Desert floor, located on the east side of the Laguna Mountains, where the force of the water pressure would turn a conventional hydro-electric generator. Then, after the sea water is released from the hydro-electric water turbine it would flow through an open canal to the Salton Sea, which is at a lower elevation than the Anza-Borrego Desert floor. The implementation of either proposal would give the inland desert access to an unlimited supply of water from the Pacific Ocean. The United States could then build a canal between the Salton Sea and Death Valley to create a second inland saltwater sea, supplying water to the northern parts of the Southern California desert. The floor of Death Valley is almost 300 feet below sea level (at Badwater basin) and it is recognized as the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere and one of the hottest places on earth. 134 degrees F. was recorded in 1913, second only to the 136 degrees registered in Libya in 1936. Additional saltwater aqueducts extending from these two inland saltwater seas into Arizona, Nevada and on into New Mexico would provide water to the arid and remote regions of those states. Solar energy would power the desalination at the local destination. A network of saltwater aqueducts, powered by solar energy pumps, throughout the deserts of California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico could provide saltwater to desert farms, ranches and rural homes, encouraging families to relocate to these areas. Each family could have their own solar energy system for saltwater desalination and the production of electricity. If public seawater distribution pipes are combined with public funded fiber optic cable, then high-speed internet access could be distributed free of charge to the rural families, allowing home schooling via interactive video classrooms. Rural families could be spread across millions of acres of the southwest, giving people the pleasure of a quiet country life without sacrificing the enjoyment of access to modern internet telephone services, online libraries, shopping, medical help, etc. A canal between the Gulf of California and the Salton Sea, or an aqueduct directly from the Pacific Ocean would provide a constant inflow of fresh seawater. By using the Salton Sea as a transfer reservoir, the constant movement of water into and out of the inland sea would prevent water stagnation and enable the management of the sea level to keep it constant. With the Salton Sea restored to its full potential as a desert oasis the region would become the desert resort that was envisioned by Real Estate developers in the 1960’s. The function of the 'transfer reservoir' would insure that the Salton Sea water is continuously moving, causing the new supply of incoming ocean water to dilute the salty reservoir water, keeping the salinity level equal to that of the Pacific ocean. Engineers would design the flow of water, in-and-out of the reservoir, in such a way as to solve the problem of increasing levels of salinity caused by evaporation. If a second inland sea was created in Death Valley, then another Real Estate oasis would be developed north of Palm Springs. And, if the California legislature created an exclusive economic zone around each inland sea, and legalized gambling within the exclusive zones, the state gaming revenue would give the State of California a positive cash flow. And, if the special legislation required that all water consumed within the economic zones be from desalinated seawater and all electricity be generated from concentrated solar energy combined with thermal storage technology to insure 24 hour service, then the new gambling industry would produce both state revenue and a market for advanced solar energy and desalination technology. The purpose of the two inland sea transfer reservoirs is to supply ocean water to desert energy farms; large saltwater algae ponds or other concepts for alternative energy production. Farmers would need technology at the large algae ponds to desalinate some of the ocean water to produce fresh water for diluting the saltwater in the pond as evaporation causes the pond to become more salty. The huge quantity of minerals, salt, and brine removed from the ponds by desalination would need to be collected and used as feedstock for the creation of a new industry that would process the salt and brine and other minerals into usable by-products. The salt, mineral and brine produced from desalination cannot be allowed to drain back into the main reservoirs or into the algae ponds. The minerals and salt will need to be processed and recycled as separate materials; or, pumped back into the depths of the Pacific Ocean. The military, the banking industry, and all city and state emergency services have contingency plans. These are detailed plans for what to do in response to a natural disaster or terrorist attack. Does the United States have a contingency plan for responding to the worst case scenario predicted by global climate change scientists? Global warming is a wild card in our economic future. Most climate computer modeling assumes a linear relationship between rising temperatures and impacts: as the planet warms, the impacts grow proportionately worse. But there is evidence that some parts of the climate system work more like a switch than a dial. That is why some scientists worry more about the non-linear event - the catastrophic event - like the breakup of the West Antarctic ice sheet or the collapse of the Gulf Stream. Recent evidence indicates that the West Antarctic ice sheet could disintegrate, causing global sea levels to rise by 16 feet. If the level of the ocean rises and floods our coastal cities, forcing the populations of western and eastern seacoasts, including portions of Florida and Louisiana to relocate, or a severe prolonged drought occurs, reducing the Colorado River water supply to a fraction of its current level, what is the plan? Water For All would give the United States a contingency plan, while supplying millions of acres of desert land with water needed for energy farms. References: Visit these web sites:
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Copyright © 2003-2008 Ron Bengtson. Boise, Idaho USA |
