# Californians: Free water! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 4, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517 "2015-10-04T17:23:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/1 "2015-10-04T17:23:29Z")
A message to our drought-stricken California neighbors: we have some [extra water](http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/03/us/gallery/east-coast-flooding/) sitting around on the East Coast that we can’t seem to figure out how to use. Come load up! Take enough of it and we might give you a community cleanup award too! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/2 "2015-10-04T17:25:27Z")
All we have to do is tilt the East Coast up and let it run downhill. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/3 "2015-10-04T20:15:25Z")
That’s a short term solution. In a Sam Kinnison addressing famine inspired solution they should “Move to the water.” Michigan’s the only state that lost population in the last census. It’s got surface fresh water everywhere. Real estate is even dirt cheap at the moment in Detroit. In some parts of the state there’s so much year round precipitation you have to shovel it off your rood during the winter. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/4 "2015-10-04T20:51:02Z")
Thanks very much. It started shortly after midnight, and ran pretty much non-stop until about 9 a.m. or so. Last time I leave a hamper of dry laundry out on the patio for my daughter to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/5 "2015-10-04T22:51:26Z")
California has all the water it could ever want sitting just to the west. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/6 "2015-10-04T23:08:10Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > California has all the water it could ever want sitting just to the west. Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/7 "2015-10-05T02:38:57Z")
Actually that’s what we have too - Columbia practically washed away but we have no running water in the house and tomorrow we absolutely have to strap the baby on our backs and go scavenge some water. Because the water knocked out our water. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/8 "2015-10-05T03:00:07Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > California has all the water it could ever want sitting just to the west. Well, except for that pesky shut down your kidney function and kill your plants problem with the saline level. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/9 "2015-10-05T15:35:04Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, except for that pesky shut down your kidney function and kill your plants problem with the saline level. > > Stranger bah! That’s just an engineering problem. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/10 "2015-10-05T21:35:44Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > A message to our drought-stricken California neighbors: we have some [extra water](http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/03/us/gallery/east-coast-flooding/) sitting around on the East Coast that we can’t seem to figure out how to use. Come load up! Take enough of it and we might give you a community cleanup award too! We’ll trade you a few sunny, dry, 80 degree days for a couple of your recent rain event days. We’ve had too many of the former and not enough of the latter. I fear we in CA may see something this winter like what the SE coast is seeing today. eventually it will be our turn. Be safe all N and S Carolina dopers! ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/11 "2015-10-05T21:56:21Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Actually that’s what we have too - Columbia practically washed away but we have no running water in the house and tomorrow we absolutely have to strap the baby on our backs and go scavenge some water. Because the water knocked out our water. That’s like something from Talking Heads! [No, really!](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/talkingheads/onceinalifetime.html) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/12 "2015-10-05T23:19:15Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > bah! That’s just an engineering problem. Well, when you get down to it, nearly everything is “just an engineering problem,” and despite our reputation for working miracles like launching spacecraft to the moon and making smatphones stream high def porn across a 4G cellular connection, we can’t actually do everything that can be concieved of without a shitton of money and resources. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/13 "2015-10-06T00:34:34Z")
Riyadh and Jeddah both get most of their water from desalination plants, and both Karachi and Mumbai get a significant fraction ,so it’s not totally economically unfeasinle. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/14 "2015-10-06T00:34:51Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > bah! That’s just an engineering problem. Nope. The engineering is well-understood and relatively trivial. It’s a financial problem. Bring the experts a few trillion bucks and Poof: problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/15 "2015-10-06T00:49:08Z")
I thought Cali wanted NASA to give them the water discovered on Mars… ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/16 "2015-10-06T04:06:19Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Riyadh and Jeddah both get most of their water from desalination plants, and both Karachi and Mumbai get a significant fraction ,so it’s not totally economically unfeasinle. Yes, if you are a nation with an unconscionable amount of petroleum to be sold for hard cash. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Nope. The engineering is well-understood and relatively trivial. It’s a financial problem. Bring the experts a few trillion bucks and Poof: problem solved. So, for just three or or four years of the entire GNP of the state of California we could provide enough water to maintain about 2% of the fiscal yield. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/17 "2015-10-06T04:14:44Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Yes, if you are a nation with an unconscionable amount of petroleum to be sold for hard cash. > Stranger Karachi and Mumbai are in Pakistan and India respectively. Neither is an oil state. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/18 "2015-10-06T12:42:00Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > … So, for just three or or four years of the entire GNP of the state of California we could provide enough water to maintain about 2% of the fiscal yield. > > Stranger I well understand how financially unfeasible it is. That’s exactly the point. It IS engineering do-able. It’d be large scale, but we have effectively unlimited siting options and nothing about the work is bleeding edge. It ISN’T financially doable. And unlike the engineering, financial things have a way of not being nearly as subject to the laws of compounding progress. To be sure, the invention of megawatt power sources that cost nanopennies to operate would alter the financial equations beyond recognition. But nobody pretends anything like that is anywhere near happening. Given current energy costs and interest rates the equations just don’t close. As you rightly point out. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/19 "2015-10-07T16:04:33Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > That’s a short term solution. In a Sam Kinnison addressing famine inspired solution they should “Move to the water.” > > Michigan’s the only state that lost population in the last census. It’s got surface fresh water everywhere. Real estate is even dirt cheap at the moment in Detroit. In some parts of the state there’s so much year round precipitation you have to shovel it off your rood during the winter. 😃 We live in a suburb of Detroit, get our water from a well, and we enjoy all the unlimited free water we could ever want. 🙂 The frozen water that falls from the sky in the winter, not so enjoyable. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californians-free-water/733517/20 "2015-10-07T17:47:03Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, except for that pesky shut down your kidney function and kill your plants problem with the saline level. > > Stranger Given how much salt Mrs Gargoyle adds to our pasta water, ocean water is probably safer.