mamabonus Divert Great Lakes Water to California?
To the Editor:
Re “Pipe the Great Lakes to California? We Might Have To,” by Jay Famiglietti (Opinion guest essay, “What to Eat on a Burning Planet” series, Aug. 9):
Professor Famiglietti’s essay about tapping the Great Lakes’ water supply drowns an important call for better national water planning under the specter of water diversion on a massive scale. Here’s why the idea is a nonstarter — and a dangerous distraction.
First, a better governance framework prevents it. The U.S.-Canadian Great Lakes Compact rules out diversion outside the Great Lakes basin with few exceptions.
Second, even if technically possible to move Great Lakes water west, the costs in terms of dollars and energy are unbearable. Hundreds of power plants would be required just to lift water over the Continental Divide and wouldn’t make a dent in the drought.
Third, a combination of engineering and poor governance got us into the Western water crisis, turning California into the nation’s breadbasket at great cost to ecosystems and economies. We can’t just engineer our way out of it.
People and industry will move, as they always have, where the climate is favorable and water and other resources are abundant. This migration is already underway, according to recent San Francisco Fed research and the choice by several high-profile industries to locate in areas of greater resilience.
As a water industry leader, I agree with Dr. Famiglietti on a single point: Smarter national water planning and policy are necessary and urgent, both for regions facing water scarcity and those, like the Great Lakes, coming under increased pressure because of our freshwater abundance. Today. Before it’s too late.
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