cashout

What your are suggesting is already been done (sans the canal bit) but to produce salt, not water
http://www.worc.ac.uk/departs/envman/Field...RFS/FCsalt.html

You would probalby have a huge battle with the greenies as I am sure that even the desert would get their protection. Not to mention that by changing the rain seasons you may be opening a can of worms...

I like the idea though.

AusS2000

Reminds me of a scene from Absolutely Fabulous (IIRC). Poor Patsy thinks that desalination in the middle east is so the arabs can have salt on their chips.

The Panama Canal took 34 years unless you think the french were just holidaying. Not to mention 30,000 lives. Fortunately natives were a centime a dozen in those days.

It's also 51 miles long. Not sure of where in the Bight you want to start, but I think the Simpson might be a tad further than that.

And heck, it's not like we have a rainfall shortage. Why would anyone from Melbourne want to increase that? You guys really are afraid of the sun!

The problem is catchment, so unless you have blue prints from Kate Bush or Wilhelm Reich for a secret cloud buster I really don't see this as feasible.

RedRover

My understanding is that the period from the mid-1800s until the early 1900s was devoted purely to speculation, surveying, planning and arguing. The French made a lot of pompous announcements but didn't actually do anything (some things never change). The first actual construction work began in 1906.

My point is, that was about a hundred years ago. These major canal works were done without the aid of computers and all the other modern equipment that we have today. I agree the Bight to the Simpson desert is a longer distance but we now have amazing mining equipment that could easily do the job. The canal doesn't have to be big enough to carry shipping.

In Victoria we have a water shortage in the west, just like in the west of NSW. Any rain generated from an inland sea would most likely fall on those drought-prone areas that need it most.

The two spots where catchment is the problem are Sydney & Melbourne. For smaller coastal towns perhaps a wind farm could generate enough power to produce a sufficient quantity of water to supplement the local supplies.

"You would probalby have a huge battle with the greenies as I am sure that even the desert would get their protection."

This is the real obstacle. Everyone is scared of the greenies.

AusS2000

http://www.ared.com/history.htm

Austblue

I found your energy source

RedRover

Well, at least I got the date of opening right

The big problem for Sydney is that 80% of the water supply is in one dam (Warragamba). A few well placed bunker-buster bombs could render Sydney unliveable.

The Warragamba Dam was constructed between 1948 & 1960 but since then there have been no other similar size dams attempted. Successive governments have neglected to plan for the growth of the population.

Potential sites for another dam could be on the Colo river upstream from Upper Colo or Colo heights or on the MacDonald river upstream from St Albans (how far upstream I don't know).

Melbourne has a more even distribution of dams but the problem for Melbourne is that the newest & largest capacity dam (The Thompson) has never been filled. Ten or more years of below average rainfall means that not a single drop of water has gone down the spillway.

AusS2000

There are several regional dams (such as Manly Dam) that were decommissioned mid last century and are generally only used for recreation these days. I wonder if studies have been done to assess the feasibility of reconnecting these reservoirs to our supply.

But the real solutions are better management of our current resources. I think we should provide incentives for grey and rain water retainment and usage around homes and businesses. You could fund these incentives by an increasing scale for excesive water usage (I don't know how you calculate that and I'm sure no matter how you do it someone will get pissed off, but hey, I'm not trying to win an election).

This summer I intend to install wall tanks on the side of my house to collect rain water. Then I can use it to water the garden and wash the car without feeling guilty.

cashout

Not written in the history books (at least not the 1st world ones) are the US sabotage and undue pressures that occured once they decided they wanted control of the canal. To the point they used a little interparty dispute to start a civil war in Colombia. Offering ofcourse arms and weapons to the party that promised to let the State of Panama become a 'soverign' nation.

But I digress, It would definetely take a lot shorter with current technology.

cashout

I think I read a couple of months ago that you could not use that water because it has been subjected to too boating use for far too long.

I always wanted to get my hands in one of the washing machines from the space program. Those things can wash a change of clothes with something like 2 cups of water (or something like that).

AusS2000

POwer baoting on Manly Dam was prohibited about 20 years ago. It even had a ski ramp in it when I was a kid.

I think one of the major problems is all the housing around it. Many of the sewer overflows would find their way to the dam water.