Quote (RedFromWinter @ 27 Mar 2024 00:49)
Myself and HELL NO. Russians tried it and turned a lake to desert. "Formerly the fourth-largest lake in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea began shrinking in the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects. "
A project like that would be actual geoengineering and the implications swag at best. In regards to water scarcity, there are already proven solutions. Below is my preferred, produce energy and possible desalinate sea water for consumption.
https://research.ibm.com/publications/a-6-focus-high-concentration-photovoltaic-thermal-dish-systemDesalination plants in my opinion are a bridge to nowhere as they require almost every other "energy" to end up with "clean drinking water". It's not that it doesn't work(it does) it's just very energy intensive to get it built and if your water supply collapses completely no amount of desalination plants will be able to cover that amount of water loss. This is a main reason why India and China are fighting a soft war at the top of the Himalayas/Kush Mountain for access to "glacier water". They both have access to an ocean but neither seem to care lol. I never knew about the Russians attempt to drain a lake and divert it's water! Thanks for sharing that's very interesting! This is probably the main reason then that they haven't gone ahead with the Great Lakes one(It's also harder because Canada and US share access/control of the Great Lakes) so it requires both countries to approve any "civil projects".
From my understanding the project was meant to literally pull water from the Atlantic ocean all the way up near New Brunswick Canada down the St. Lawrence River and then create a series of damns which would allow what was "ocean salt water" to replenish the Great Lakes as Lake Michigan at it's furthest south point(Gary Indiana of all places lol). It required what would be the largest series of "desalination plants" along the St. Lawrence River. The goal was to create a "water loop" that "didn't drain the Great Lakes" but rather created enough water pressure/momentum to allow big surges of water to be reallocated. They basically wanted to create a fuckin massive tunnel beneath Chicago/Gary all the way west to the Mississippi River where it would feed into there and then be diverted again further west.
I just thought it was a cool civil engineering attempt to get water from the Atlantic ocean to the Great Lakes to the Mississippi and then across towards states already in a water crisis.
I'll check out that research publication thanks for sharing bud!