Water water everywhere

Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink…

Water is the foundation of civilizations. If one had to sum up politics in one word, water would be that word. As we look around the United States there is no shortage of water, only a lack of plumbing to deliver it where it’s needed. This is an opportunity for Oregon to get rich.
The Columbia basin has eight times the runoff as the Colorado basin. Six percent of this water is diverted for irrigating crops. Less than one percent of it could permanently end the severe water shortage in Los Angeles. I propose we invest in a pipeline to get it there, the simplest and least-cost method being a pipe from the mouth of the Columbia along the shallow sea floor coast. No land would have to be taken by eminent domain. Pipe is cheap and easy to lay from ships, no more difficult than laying the phone cables that traverse the world’s oceans.
So why hasn’t this been done already? A failure to imagine by Oregon’s leaders seems the only possible explanation. We export our wheat, our timber and our jobs but not our most valuable resource, our surplus water. Good business sense dictates we start doing this without delay.