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The Los Angeles Aqueduct Is Wild

practical.engineering

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Re: The Los Angeles Aqueduct Is Wild

#121

Post by peterbecich »

notepad0x90 wrote: post #118

Looking at what Tehran is facing (not related to the war, water shortage), I'm wondering why california isn't investing in more desalination for SoCal, especially for LA. I see some here: https://lynceans.org/all-posts/status-of-desalination-plants... But there are only a few in SoCal and they're for smaller communities like carlsbad or santa barbara. So it is there and it is working for some, why not more? naturally…

There are environmental and financial concerns https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/05/california-desali...

I don't understand the financial concern at all. How could increasing the water supply increase the price? It only makes sense to me if the price is artificially low right now.

Environmental damage by a desalinization plant couldn't possibly be worse than overdrawing the acquifer -- the defacto solution.

Re: The Los Angeles Aqueduct Is Wild

#123

Post by rkagerer »

Am curious, how have the shade balls been working out in terms of maintenance, coating wear, leeched microplastics, containment (so they don't wind up in oceans), etc? In retrospect, did it make sense compared to the $250M or so uplift it would have taken to build a conventional roof?

Re: The Los Angeles Aqueduct Is Wild

#124

Post by dontlikeyoueith »

Melatonic wrote: post #116
jsLavaGoat wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Norcal spent decades wagging fingers at SoCal about this. There were books like Cadillac Desert. Meanwhile, San Francisco drinks clean glacier water that a valley in Yosemite was destroyed to provide this and they refuse to repurpose a downstream damn that has enough capacity to do it. Physician, heal thyself.

Crystal Springs isnt anywhere near Yosemite if that is what you are referencing. That being said it supposedly was gorgeous and almost as amazing before being filled with water

They are referring to Hetch Hetchy.

Re: The Los Angeles Aqueduct Is Wild

#125

Post by dontlikeyoueith »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #119
com2kid wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle just got done building light rail tracks over a floating bridge. It is an insane engineering achievement. A train literally running on tracks on a road that is floating on water!

I get that it is neat but it's hardly the Hoover dam is it?

No, it's significantly more complex.

Re: The Los Angeles Aqueduct Is Wild

#126

Post by crooked-v »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #120
hamdingers wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no water scarcity in California, only misallocation. The vast majority of our water is heavily subsidized and used for agriculture, and a substantial amount of those crops are grown for export, yet agricultural exports makes up an insignificant part of California's economy. We could end all California water scarcity talk today, with no impact to food availability for Americans, by curtailing the internationa…

In Arizona we grow alfalfa as well -- it's mind boggling to me that in places where water is so scarce we use so much of it on such a low value crop.

That alfalfa gets extensively exported as livestock feed... and alfalfa is literally mostly water by weight. So the arrangement is literally shipping out local groundwater in bulk to other countries.

Re: The Los Angeles Aqueduct Is Wild

#127

Post by darknavi »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #119
com2kid wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle just got done building light rail tracks over a floating bridge. It is an insane engineering achievement. A train literally running on tracks on a road that is floating on water!

I get that it is neat but it's hardly the Hoover dam is it?

It's not exactly brain surgery, is it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THNPmhBl-8I

Re: The Los Angeles Aqueduct Is Wild

#128

Post by daedrdev »

peterbecich wrote: post #121
notepad0x90 wrote: post #118

Looking at what Tehran is facing (not related to the war, water shortage), I'm wondering why california isn't investing in more desalination for SoCal, especially for LA. I see some here: https://lynceans.org/all-posts/status-of-desalination-plants... But there are only a few in SoCal and they're for smaller communities like carlsbad or santa barbara. So it is there and it is working for some, why not more? naturally…

There are environmental and financial concerns https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/05/california-desali... I don't understand the financial concern at all. How could increasing the water supply increase the price? It only makes sense to me if the price is artificially low right now. Environmental damage by a desalinization plant couldn't possibly be worse than overdrawing the acquifer -- the defacto solution.

Building an industrial facility in california is much more difficult and expensive due to numerous regulations.

Re: The Los Angeles Aqueduct Is Wild

#130

Post by jsLavaGoat »

Melatonic wrote: post #116
jsLavaGoat wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Norcal spent decades wagging fingers at SoCal about this. There were books like Cadillac Desert. Meanwhile, San Francisco drinks clean glacier water that a valley in Yosemite was destroyed to provide this and they refuse to repurpose a downstream damn that has enough capacity to do it. Physician, heal thyself.

Crystal Springs isnt anywhere near Yosemite if that is what you are referencing. That being said it supposedly was gorgeous and almost as amazing before being filled with water

Not Crystal Springs. Hetch Hetchy, the damning of which legendarily caused John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club, to die of a broken heart.
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