Blog: The grand plan to steal Canada’s water resources: the traitors within

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 3, 2010 at 7:54 am

From Water Exports and the Water War Crimes blog (www.waterwarcrimes.com):

” … Water and our home , Planet Earth, hove a long history together, 6 billion years, or thereabouts. as humans, we are mostly water, 90%, (some say), curiously, scientists report that Planet Earth is one of the few places where water exists in its three states, solid, liquid, and gas.

Canada is one of those peculiar countries where, for six months of the year, water exists in its solid state as snow or ice and the country is, literally, covered in water. However, every spring, the water melts and drains back to the Oceans from whence it came. Politicians and environmentalists may tell you that fresh water is our most precious resource but they do precious little to preserve it. In fact the water is so valueless that Canadian people allow it to wash away into the sea knowing that it will return each year as snow or rain.

In Canada, most fresh water originally appears in the sky as snow flakes, accumulates on the ground and is so plentiful that people pay contractors to remove it from their driveways. This is no market for snow in Canada. It is a nuisance. … “

This post seems to detail a plan from 1990 to deliver water to Southern California from Canada via supertankers retrofitted to carry water instead of oil. Hmmmm….
Continue reading this post from the Water Exports and Water War Crimes blog by clicking here.

March 3, 2010 · Filed Under Grandiose water plans

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Blog commentary: Columbia River water next export to California (?)

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 12, 2009 at 9:09 am

From Oregon Catalyst:

“Speculation is high that Oregon has, for the first time, begun formal exploration into the feasibility of sending surplus water from the Columbia River south to thirsty California. The success of the recently announced giant wind farm has water export proponents salivating at the chance to tap just a small portion of the average 265,000 cubic feet of water per second that slips by Oregon, unused but for power generation, fish habitat and limited shipping.

Closed-door sessions have been held privately in recent months to discuss the very future of the Columbia River as we know it today. People have been asking for Oregon’s water for a long time. In 1990 Kenneth Hahn, an LA County Supervisor, formally requested water from Oregon via pipe to offset the severe water shortages they were experiencing. Then governor Neil Goldschmidt said no to the request, as did then Washington governor Booth Gardner.

Oh, how times have changed. With Oregon now leading the way in green power exports with the proposed Shepherds’ Flat Wind Farm, many around the state see the opportunity to export water as the next logical export. … “

Picture of Columbia River Gorge by flickr photographer WSK 2005.

December 12, 2009 · Filed Under Grandiose water plans

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Rancher proposes water pipeline from Missouri to Colorado

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 23, 2009 at 7:17 am

From the Durango Herald:

At first, Gary Hausler’s idea sounds like a practical joke. The Gunnison rancher wants to build an 18-foot-wide water pipeline from the Mississippi River to a hill south of Denver and bring in enough water for millions more people.

But it’s no joke. Some state lawmakers are intrigued by the idea.

“Why go to the Mississippi? Because that’s where the water is,” Hausler told the Legislature’s agriculture committees Wednesday.

Hausler has a lot of water in mind – 1 million acre-feet a year, about twice the annual flow of the Dolores River at the Utah border. He has been working on his plan for eight years, but in the last six months or so, people have started listening.

If Colorado doesn’t build it, its rapid population growth will continue to dry up farms, he said. “When I started out, people laughed in my face a lot. That doesn’t happen near as much now,” Hausler said.

Colorado’s population is expected to grow by 2 million more people by 2030, creating a need for an additional 630,000 acre-feet of water. So what’s he got in mind?

His numbers are staggering: a 1,200-mile-long system with a 7,000-foot vertical lift; numerous reservoirs and canals; an 18-foot-diameter pipeline; and the equivalent of three new power plants to run the pumps. Hausler thinks it would take 30 years to permit and build, and he admits it wouldn’t do anything to solve short-term water troubles.

He envisions a Central Plains Compact among Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri to set the legal framework for the project.

Not that Hauser has actually talked to anyone in those states about it…. Read more from the Durango Herald by clicking here.

March 23, 2009 · Filed Under Grandiose water plans

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Thinking way outside the box: Agri-businessman has a plan to create jobs, tear down O’Shaughnessy Dam, get rid of selenium-laced water, lower crime, and save billions of dollars!

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 27, 2008 at 8:29 am

From the Patterson Irrigator:

We are told that to keep up with our growing population, we need to create more jobs. Fortunately, this problem is easy to solve. Given that we now have large proposed developments in Salida and Crows Landing, I propose a 1- to 2-mile-wide corridor tying both together, giving us about 50 square miles for commercial and industrial development.

We would intersect three railroads, the San Joaquin River and the Hetch Hetchy pipeline, where we would get all the water we need for this project, as we will have another source of water for San Francisco (read on). We might even be able to tear down O’Shaughnessy Dam and eliminate Hetch Hetchy reservoir.

We would dredge a ship canal from Stockton (basically up the San Joaquin River) all the way to our corridor and bring the container ships directly to our port, saving on rail and truck freight from Oakland. The dredged dirt would be used to reinforce the levees in the Delta islands and build a dam across the north end of San Pablo Bay (does anyone remember the old Reber Plan?).

Not only would this save us billions, but we would capture about 500,000 acre-feet of water each year that is now used in a futile attempt to keep the saltwater intrusion in the Delta to a minimum. This saved water would replace the Hetch Hetchy water mentioned above. A win-win situation.

But wait! There’s more! Read all about it from the Patterson Irrigator by clicking here.

July 27, 2008 · Filed Under Grandiose water plans

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Water export idea for Manitoba should be considered: Advocate says politicians refusing to even discuss huge money-making proposal

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 30, 2008 at 6:51 am

From the Edmonton Journal, a commentary written by a research associate from Canada’s Frontier Centre for Public Policy, who notes that the government has passed resolutions barring fresh water exports, but he feels the matter should at least be discussed amongst Manitoban’s themselves. He points out:

If the future of Manitoba were the fuel indicator on a dashboard, it would be blinking and buzzing. We depend on the generosity of other provinces for more than one-third of our provincial budget. Over the last decade, this has amounted to more than $20 billion. And yet, where are we?

During the same period, the number of people living below the poverty line has increased, crime has increased, our health care has deteriorated and our universities are crumbling like oatmeal cookies.

An objective outsider might say: “Have you tried anything else? Have you questioned the notion that fresh water is priceless?”

Given the cost of desalinated water, this writer sees a system, much like our State Water Project, that could transport water out of the Canadian province to the U.S., and he gives specific details on how such a system could be built. It could be very profitable for Manitoba, according to his calculations:

On the revenue side, based on the Tampa costs [charging the same amount as Tampa is paying for water from their desalination facility], we could realize $3.3 billion per year (6.6 cents times five billion cubic metres). Profit, if all costs were deducted, would be $1.334 billion. However, if the United States carried the cost of the project, as is usually the case for such strategic infrastructure, the profit would be an impressive $2.49 billion every year.

It would be enough to easily wipe out Manitoba’s equalization handout which was $2.06 billion in the most recent budget. On a bigger scale, this new wealth would be sufficient to wipe out more than two-thirds of all federal transfers to Manitoba, which come in at a whopping $3.61 billion this year.

Our best outcome might be to sell the water contract to a pension fund. The Canada Pension Fund is very active in this area, having acquired the London water utility in 2006. At an estimated capitalization rate of five per cent, the contract could be worth at least $26.6 billion in the first scenario to $49.8 billion in the second.

What could be better than a pipeline financed by the United States, owned by the Canada Pension Plan and an unending source of revenue that would be a bold, giant step towards ending Manitoba’s hanger-on status in the federation?

At least, we should be allowed to think about it.

Read the full text of this article from the Edmonton Journal by clicking here.

June 30, 2008 · Filed Under Grandiose water plans

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Water issues highlighted in this month’s Nature magazine, and more on the plan to move Canadian water south to the U. S.

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 22, 2008 at 12:05 pm

From the Water Wired blog, here are two interesting posts:

Nature Magazine, a science journal, is highlighting water issues. For a review of the issue, plus links to the Nature Magazine website, click here.

Earlier this month, Michael posted a piece on a new plan to move Canadian water into the U.S. Today’s post points out that the proposed dam across St. James Bay would require close to ten times the fill used in China’s Three Gorges Dam – now that’s big! For more on this story from Water Wired, click here.

March 22, 2008 · Filed Under Grandiose water plans, Odds and Ends

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Who needs Great Lakes water when Canada can supply us with all the water we’ll need!

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 8, 2008 at 7:29 am

First, I read yesterday that some Nevada officials are pressing for a ‘water initiative’ to bring ’surplus unallocated fresh and desalinated ocean waters to the more arid regions of the West’, and then I wake up this morning to find that there is another project being talked about that would make such a national water system look puny in comparison. Cadillac Desert readers will remember the old NAWAPA, and now … we have NAWA, which would bring us all the water we could ever need! Honey, call up that contractor and build that pool! From the Water Wired blog, Michael Campana gives us the details of this latest grandiose plan:

Imagine, in the not-too-distant future lush Kentucky bluegrass lawns in Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, and Las Vegas with no guilt feelings. Fountains and verdant gardens gracing the Las Vegas Strip. Pat Mulroy of the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) halving water rates with a broad grin on her face. Georgia cheerfully donating Lake Lanier water to Alabama and Florida, and building a pipeline to supply Tennessee with all the H2O it needs.

You’d say, “What have you been smoking?” Or worse.

Well, looks like something similar to NAWAPA is in the works, again exporting water from the Great White North. So how does it work? Dam the southern half of James Bay, the southern arm of Hudson Bay, run the water through helical turbines, then dump it in the Great Lakes for distribution to the USA and Canada’s prairie provinces. The scheme will provide Canada with hydroelectricity and almost $8B in revenue.

Colleague Paul Godfrey of the University of Massachusetts sent me some slides prepared by Canadian Romain Audet that describe how all this will work. It’s pretty awesome.

Check it out by clicking here to visit the Water Wired blog, and while you’re doing that, I’m going to call up the contractor to get that pool put in, and get my yard resodded with Kentucky Bluegrass – to heck with fescue!!!

I think I need a new category …. “Grandiose Water Schemes”

March 8, 2008 · Filed Under Grandiose water plans, National water news

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A grandiose plan for meeting Nevada’s water needs

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 23, 2008 at 8:31 am

Oh, how did I miss this! I have so many news alerts and places to look and here’s one that got by me, but didn’t get by Michael over at WaterWired. I just love grandiose solutions to water problems, and here’s another one. This guy has a plan for securing water for Nevada – all of Nevada, now – not just Las Vegas. From the Nevada Appeal, written by Fred Kessler, a general contractor in Carson City:

Given the impending effects of global climate change, the time has come to plan for Nevada’s future water needs, which will be substantial given the past three decade’s population growth. In Roman times when emperors did not have to run for re-election it was much easier to finance, design and construct large-scale public works projects than it is today, when politicians are more concerned with short-term political gain than long-term societal goals affecting future generations.

What is needed is an independent public water authority with a nine-member board to take charge of the situation. The governor, Assembly and Senate should each appoint a single member, and three members should be elected at-large from Southern Nevada and three members from Northern Nevada. This will ensure both equal representation and accountability to all of the people of Nevada. Once constituted, the independent public water authority should be relatively immune from political interference and be able to focus upon long-term intergenerational solutions to Nevada’s future water needs.

The water authority will have to begin the process of raising capital from (1) federal funds, (2) state funds and (3) private capital markets through the sale of public bonds for design, acquisition of land and right-of-way, and construction of public water works projects. The water authority should be a wholesaler of potable water selling to local municipal and private water districts, charging and collecting user fees for the water that they provide. These fees will be the revenue source from which to pay bond holders. The water authority bonds will range from 30 to 50 years in term depending upon financing requirements. User fees also will pay for ongoing operations, maintenance and administrative costs.

The water authority will need to develop vast uninterruptible supplies of drinking water to feed the growing Nevada population. The closest supply to both Northern and Southern Nevada of raw material from which to process potable water is of course the Pacific Ocean. Desalinization plants on the Pacific coast, cross-country pipelines and pumping stations across California and Nevada can produce a steady supply of potable water that is limited only by the maximum flow rate of the system. A northern leg running from the Pacific along the I-80 corridor to service the northwestern Nevada counties, and a southern leg running from the Pacific coast across California to service Clark County will provide potable water to Nevada’s main population centers.

Read the rest of Mr. Kessler’s plan in the Nevada Appeal by clicking here. You can check out Water Wired thoughts on it all by clicking here.

February 23, 2008 · Filed Under Grandiose water plans

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A channel to the Salton Sea? Profitable and going to happen, says engineering firm. “… both Parties [Dems/Reps] have been ditching, openly, on it; yet, in private, competing, viciously, to own it”

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 1, 2008 at 9:59 am

I stumbled upon the last installment on a series of articles last night, and have found the other segments. The material is too much for me to go through right now, so I’m going to set these aside for the weekend, and hopefully put together a synopsis to post next week.

This should be an interesting read! For those of you who are interested, here are the links:”The Environmental Effects of the Plasma Incubator Reactor Desalination System when applied to the Sea of Cortez to the Salton Sea Desalination and shipping channel project of Southern California” – click here. This segment scopes the project. What would the channel being proposed look like?

The Channel coming out of the Sea Of Cortez will be one mile wide and over 200 feet deep. This width and depth will be maintained up to the El Centro Harbor, which will be half in the US and half in Mexico. It will be approximately two miles in diameter to allow large ocean going container ships to maneuver, to dock, and off load cargo in this area.

Interstate 8 runs through this area and access to shipping routes will be of prime importance. Along the two miles on either side of the channel on the Mexican side, which is being reserved for the development of industrial and commercial business, there is expected to me a migration of manufacturing businesses needing access to better shipping routes than can be obtained within the interior of Mexico.

Another user of the channel will be the cruise line companies who will be able to bring their ships all the way up the channel to the area around Indio and Palm Springs California where their compliment of passengers will be able to disembark and go to the Indian Casinos of this area. It is anticipated that a few cruise lines will utilize this area as a starting point for cruises into the Pacific. Interstate 10 passes through this area and container ships are anticipated to utilize the Harbor located in the Indio Area to offload cargo which will open up the area for more jobs and will relieve the pressure currently being experienced at ports along the west coast of California.

“What benefit will California derive if the Indian tribes back the channel?” – click here. This installment talks of the profit potential of increasing gaming along this channel – and seems to indicate that this channel is indeed in the works, even though publicly officials have said such a channel, or even a pipeline, is not a possibility:

Had the Las Vegas Consortium known that the Channel was real, they wouldn’t have placed the four Anti-Indian Gaming Referendums on the February 5, 2008 ballot. Instead, they would have done what the Tribes can’t do; invest heavily in the Channel. Had the Big 4 known that the Channel was real, they would have not invested their time and money elsewhere. Neither group can be blamed. How could they have known? The Channel was more than a well kept secret.

The major Political Parties have been extremely effective at spinning the Channel so that no one learned of, or rather, became convinced of, it’s reality. For two years, now, both Parties have been ditching, openly, on it; yet, in private, competing, viciously, to own it. The Republicans thought they won that battle when they got Gov. Schwarznneggar re-elected. Not too hard to do that when you find nearly 400 billion dollars you lost. How did he put it? Oh, yea; this is money the State didn’t know it had. They still haven’t revealed, to the public, where they found that money; have they? Even more astounding, the Democrats ain’t having a cow about it; are they? Did the Democrats acquiescence in defeat. Not by a long shot! It only convinced them, that much more, why it is so important for them to win this next up and coming Presidential Election. So, the race to own the Channel is still on; and, it is a hot one. After all, 40 billion a year in new government revenue, what to speak of the trillions in private profits to be made, is nothing to sneeze at.

Oooo, a conspiracy theory. I’m just flying on the seat of my pants as I scan these very long posts. Are we having fun yet? I am! The third installment, “Is there money in desalinating water for California?” – click here. This article reviews the profit potential of the channel, of which there would be many ways to generate profit, including the sale of desalinated water:

Utilizing the Plasma Incubator Reactor System, the Channel is estimated to produce as much as 300 million acre feet (maf) of desalinated fresh water, per year, from the desalination of 306 maf of seawater. Less is probable. More is possible. Never-the-less, 300 maf/yr is the figure we based our estimates upon.

For this estimate, we make eight other assumptions: (1) that, the sales of water will pay for all of the cost of infrastructure of the Channel, including all its ports, etc.; (2) that, the sales of water will pay for all the cost of desalination facilities; including all its distribution networks; (3) that, the sales of water will pay for all the cost of electric generation facilities, including all its distribution networks; (4) that, given the choice, the end consumer will pay as much, for water, as they are paying today; (5) that, the real and total, unsubsidized, cost of water, today, is, on average, approximately $3000/ac ft.; (6) that, the predominant, ongoing, cost of producing this water is the cost of electricity; (7) that, the, ongoing, cost of producing this water will be factored into the cost of producing electricity; and, (8) that, the Channel and all its associated infrastructure would have a useful life of 70 years.

That would mean a potential profit of $60.82 quadrillion from the sale of water, over its lifetime or, $868.79 trillion/yr, [(300 maf/yr x $3000/af x 70yrs - $2.19 quadrillion)/70] , from the sale of Channel water each year.

How interesting, and the Legislative Analyst Office report didn’t even mention it. More on this next week, after I have had some time to look these over.

February 1, 2008 · Filed Under Grandiose water plans, Salton Sea

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Canadian water and the NAWAPA – is the idea making a comeback?

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 25, 2008 at 6:53 am

Those who have read the book Cadillac Desert will undoubtedly remember the North American Water And Power Alliance, the grandiose scheme to route Canadian water all over the Central and Western United States. Is NAWAPA making a comeback?

Check out this WaterWired post on the subject.

January 25, 2008 · Filed Under Grandiose water plans, International Water Issues

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