If we can move oil all over the world, why can't we do the same with rain water?

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   Winter Maclenposted 12 years ago

   If we can move oil all over the world, why can't we do the same with rain water?
   
   If we can move oil from Canada, Alaska and Deep Water in the Gulf of Mexico, why can't we pump flood waters from the midwest into the drought-plagued south west?

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2. 0

   Ghost32posted 12 years ago

   On the surface, that would be a great idea--but there's the problem:  All that water, when it's flooding, is indeed ON THE SURFACE.  Which means that we'd need enormous "water catchers" to contain the stuff before it could get away.
   
   Oil is already contained (in rock formations far below the surface, usually) and therefore easier to KEEP contained, since it's never been known to "flood" before people were ready to put it to use.
   
   Oil wouldn't be easy to handle, either, if it started out by falling from the sky and then just ran downhill.
   
   Then again, I'm willing to bet we'd already be moving water all over the world if it could be sold for the current oil price of around $102 per 42-gallon barrel.

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3. 61

   Winter Maclenposted 12 years ago

   Not to be dumb, but if the rivers are flooding why can't we just pump it?  I realize I am sounding simplistic, but I spend some time in New Mexico with family and it is so dry there, it rains in the upper atmosphere, you can see it, but it evaporates before it hits the ground.  Meanwhile this summer in Illinois, we are treading water in the back yard.

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4. 58

   Marturionposted 12 years ago

   One of the biggest problems with transporting water is evaporation.  In order to get potable water from one region to the next, it needs to be contained in something that allows the evaporated water to recollect, or keep it cold enough to prevent evaporation in the first place.  Either way, it is a tremendously difficult endeavor.  Oil, on the other hand, doesn't evaporate, has no temperature requirements, and can be shipped via any method that keeps it from slopping into the environment - and we know that hasn't even  always been a prerequisite. 
   There have been cases of water transplantation that have worked.  the entire Las Vegas area is a perfect example, as their water comes in from several different distant sources.  Oddly enough, the water pipelines that feed the city operate on the same principle as the Alaskan pipeline.

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