Isn't there a third option that involves building serious infrastructure to pipe water down from the Northwest?
Of course you can't build things in America anymore so that's probably off the table.
Of course you can't build things in America anymore so that's probably off the table.
People don’t complain about Floridians or iowaians. It’s always the brown bodies from California “driving up prices” and “drinking all the water.” California is a dog whistle for anti-immigrant viewpoints. “Folks from California.” We know who you mean when you say that. Immigrants and other “water drinkers.”
More seriously, though, water use is contentious between states and a big thing that the federal government mediates.
WA and OR probably wouldn’t be willing to pump significant amounts of water to CA outside of extreme circumstances or uneconomical prices.
A fraction of that energy/investment put toward using water more efficiently in agriculture (in both the physical and economic sense) would make a bigger difference.
Here is the full map of the system:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Aqueduct#/media/...
Pumping over the Cascades would require much more energy since there are no natural valleys connecting the water rich parts of the PNW with CA. It's a very thick wall of mountains that you would have to pump water up and down repeatedly.
Capturing 100% of carbon produced from burning gas would cost something like $1/gallon.
Much better to go extinct as a species than make our cars 20% more efficient, or somehow oust Putin.