Montreal acting legend William Shatner says that he has a solution to the crippling drought that has afflicted California.
The octogenarian actor from NDG says he plans to launch a $30 billion crowdfunding effort to build a water pipeline to his adopted home state of California.
The aquatic relief would flow from northern states that have plentiful water, he told Yahoo.com.
“They tell us there’s a year’s supply of water left. If it doesn’t rain next year, what do 20 million people in the breadbasket of the world do? In a place that’s the fifth-largest GDP — if California were a country, it’d be fifth in line — we’re about to be arid! What do you do about it? So I’m starting a Kickstarter campaign. I want $30 billion … to build a pipeline like the Alaska pipeline. Say, from Seattle — a place where there’s a lot of water. There’s too much water. How bad would it be to get a large, 4-foot pipeline, keep it aboveground — because if it leaks, you’re irrigating! Bring it down here and fill one of our lakes! Lake Mead!”
The suggestion set off some serious discussion with many of the 2,5000 commenters on the Yahoo site praising Shatner's notion.
One argued that it would require less energy to desalinate with solar desalination than to run pumps to push the water south.
Another cited the long-discussed Columbia River pipeline project, which would bring water from Oregon and Washington. The northern states might agree to sell their water because the alternative would be to have massive numbers of Californians moving north, the contributor argued.
"California is the biggest producer of fruit and vegetables in the US. If we don't get water, then what happens to the rest of the country?" asked another.
