Take excess water from SE floods and pump it west opportunistically using excess renewables. Bonus because you can use the pumped water as gravity storage.
Yes, it is not cheap, energetically, to pump water. Yes, you have to cross a big mountain range(which increases opportunities for gravity storage).
For some reason, this suggestion always gets a lot of comments from folks living around the great lakes who think we're going to 'steal' 'their' water(just like they 'steal' CA grown produce, I guess?).
Anyway, a national water grid is needed for national food security and can mitigate flooding damage in the SE(probably more important b/c of AGW).
That report is mainly about the upper Mississipi (Midwest) not the lower, or points east (Southeast).
And it is only supposed to run during large scale flood events, which the report cites as lasting ~80 days, worst case? Looking at flood event frequency, this
report cites: 1912, 1913, 1927, 1937, 1965, 1973, 1982, 1993, and 2008.
So, let's be generous and double the event length to 160 days and double the event frequency to ~20 per century (increasing, to be sure). That's a time utilization of the infrastructure of ~9%, if Ima doing the math right.
It is apparently true: water runs uphill toward money. In this case, literally multiple miles of vertical elevation gain to get it to the Navajo Nation.
I mean I could see maybe pumping to Denver, or maybe over the continental divide past Denver, but... direct to almost the NM, AZ border?
Maybe just start with baby steps and for instance charge those good enterprising folk who farm alfalfa with nearly free water in the AZ desert and ship it to Saudi Arabia.
Take excess water from SE floods and pump it west opportunistically using excess renewables. Bonus because you can use the pumped water as gravity storage.
Yes, it is not cheap, energetically, to pump water. Yes, you have to cross a big mountain range(which increases opportunities for gravity storage).
For some reason, this suggestion always gets a lot of comments from folks living around the great lakes who think we're going to 'steal' 'their' water(just like they 'steal' CA grown produce, I guess?).
Anyway, a national water grid is needed for national food security and can mitigate flooding damage in the SE(probably more important b/c of AGW).