# International Water pumping? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-water-pumping/425580 "2007-11-07T20:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-water-pumping/425580/1 "2007-11-07T20:18:17Z")
[This](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=443046) question reminded me to post a question I’ve thought about before and I’m sure must have been addressed here before. Would it be economically viable to pump fresh water over long distances from more rain sodden parts of the globe to deserts or drought prone areas. For example from Scotland to Southern Spain? Would this be more or less feasible than desalination? Do any such schemes actually exist? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-water-pumping/425580/2 "2007-11-07T20:26:01Z")
[Towing icebergs](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915637,00.html) > [@](#): > > Prince Faisal’s own company, Iceberg Transport International, is considering a plan to find a 100 million-ton iceberg off Antarctica,\* wrap it in sailcloth and plastic to slow its melting, and then use powerful tugboats to tow it to the Arabian peninsula, where it would supply enormous quantities of drinking water. The journey would take about eight months and the project would cost around $100 million, according to estimates. > But it very well might be worth it. Even if the mile-long iceberg lost as much as 20% of its mass en route, it could be melted down and its water made available at a cost of 500 to 600 a cubic meter (about 35 cu. ft.), well under the 80¢ it now costs to desalinate a cubic meter of water. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-water-pumping/425580/3 "2007-11-08T00:22:33Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] …from Scotland to Southern Spain? [/QUOTE] The capital cost of a pipeline suitable for this job would be something ferocious; maintenance and operational costs would also be considerable. I’m not sure what assumptions are appropriate to calculate the cost of delivering water by such a scheme, but I strongly suspect they exceed the $0.80/cubic-meter mentioned in post #2. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2007, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-water-pumping/425580/4 "2007-11-08T01:32:19Z")
Ok you’re probably right. What about (maybe this happens for all I know) from Scotland to London and the rest of the South-East of Britain where water shortages seem to be a regular fixture during the summers? ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2007, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-water-pumping/425580/5 "2007-11-08T11:46:30Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] Ok you’re probably right. What about (maybe this happens for all I know) from Scotland to London and the rest of the South-East of Britain where water shortages seem to be a regular fixture during the summers? [/QUOTE] It hasn’t happened yet, although I have read articles about plans for a UK ‘national water grid’ as for electricity. One of the main arguments against it seems to be that different areas produce different hardnesses of water and sending our beautiful, pure Scottish water down south would be bad for the system when it got there… And vice versa. During recent UK droughts I seem to recall that tankers have hauled water in from wetter areas but that was on a much smaller scale than a permanent grid would be. This page by [Thames Water](http://www.thameswater.co.uk/UK/region/en_gb/content/General/General_001354.jsp?SECT=General_001354) gives a couple of other reasons as well. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2007, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-water-pumping/425580/6 "2007-11-08T12:28:31Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by_ **Meurglys** : > This page by [Thames Water](http://www.thameswater.co.uk/UK/region/en_gb/content/General/General_001354.jsp?SECT=General_001354) gives a couple of other reasons as well. I like the bit in the second bullet > [@](#): > > For the price of building a reservoir in a ‘wetter’ area, we could build a reservoir in the Thames Valley to store water much closer to where it is needed. We are identifying a site for a major new water resource in the Upper Thames area. Personal interest here - the “major new water resource” is actually a [plan](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/5343646.stm#name) to flood 3500 acres of Oxfordshire a mile or so from my house! ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-water-pumping/425580/7 "2007-11-08T13:10:46Z")
Yesterday a work mate here told me about how in his island (Reunion island, to the East of Madagascar) they built a pipe to take water from the very wet East side to the very dry West side. Although it´s not a long water pipe it had to be drilled across the mountains on the center of the island. Small distance but the principle is the same, the wet side is a lush tropical rainforest area and the West is a dry savanna. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-water-pumping/425580/8 "2007-11-08T15:56:46Z")
Take a look at the discussion in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=443046) about the feasibility of piping water to drought-stricken areas within the U.S. Short answer: it’s economically unfeasible except over short distances and small areas and it helps a lot if the originating water is at a higher elevation. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-water-pumping/425580/9 "2007-11-08T15:58:11Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] [Towing icebergs](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915637,00.html) [/QUOTE] Notice that had a 1977 date on it. Towing icebergs keeps being talked about and never happens. It’s fusion power on ice. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-water-pumping/425580/10 "2007-11-09T17:26:33Z")
Yeah it seems I read a towing icebergs story in the papers or a magazine about once a year.