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The Rip Van Winkle of water projects – NAWAPA remerges after a 50 year slumber

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 5, 2009 at 7:29 am

From Barry Nelson at the NRDC Switchboard blog:

“Wow. A communications firm in Falls Church Virginia has suggested reviving a continent-spanning water project called the North American Water and Power Alliance as a jobs creation project for the nation.

It won’t be built, but if you’ve never heard of NAWAPA, it’s worth revisiting this moment in water history. NAWAPA is one of the largest water projects ever proposed — conceived in 1960s by Parsons Engineering in Southern California. (Full disclosure. My brother worked at Parsons for years, but not on water. He stubbornly resisted my repeated requests that he pilfer anything related to NAWAPA from the firm’s archives.) The project would have dammed and reversed the flow of the Yukon and other rivers. Tunnels, pumping stations and canals would have moved water along the Rocky Mountains to the desert southwest. It even featured a “nuclear excavation” option, to speed the process of blasting mountains out of the way. I recall reading about this project as a child. (When I was 10, my grandmother gave me a subscription to Popular Mechanics.) I thought it was really cool. … “

But Barry sees several reasons why this project will never be built; find out what they are by clicking here.

December 5, 2009 · Filed Under International Water Issues

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One Response to “The Rip Van Winkle of water projects – NAWAPA remerges after a 50 year slumber”

  1. The week that was, 11/29-12/05/2009 | Chance of Rain on December 6th, 2009 1:01 pm

    [...] The [NAWAPA] project would have dammed and reversed the flow of the Yukon and other rivers. Tunnels, pumping stations and canals would have moved water along the Rocky Mountains to the desert southwest. It even featured a “nuclear excavation” option, to speed the process of blasting mountains out of the way. – “The Rip van Winkle of water projects — NAWAPA emerges after 50 years of slumber,” Barry Nelson, NRDC Switchboard, December 4, 2009, via Aquafornia [...]

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