US Cities Could Be Capturing Billions of Gallons of Water Per Day

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ the problem in Chicago is that the land here is so unrelentingly flat, that there's no good place to put it. The city was built on a former marsh, and that's still kinda what it wants to be.

Hence TARP, the multi-decade, multi-billion dollar tunnel and reservoir program to channel and store excess rainwater underground and into old rock quarries, where it can be treated and slowly released back into area water ways.

And we have no need to do anything "useful" with the water as there's no elevation change to do any kind of power generation, and 20% of the world's surface freshwater is already in our front yard.

You’re definitely right. Chicago may not have anything “useful” to do with the water, but the country sure as hell needs it (I’m sure you’ve noticed the amount of news stories the last few years relating to federal water management policy) and the world could do with sequestration of excess rainfall and glacial melt other than letting it cause rising seas. An entire national water management network could be constructed on the extant foundations of the WPA era water works projects consisting of:

• new and improved reservoirs to detain and redistribute stormwater for the purpose of preventing it from even reaching the sea;
• national system of pipelines on the scale of the original interstate system to transfer water from one area to another for agricultural, industrial, municipal, and other use;
• national system of desalination plants to pump water out of a rising sea and into the national pipeline system for our use.

For Democrats: a real solution to a major problem inherent in global warming;
For Republicans: endless ways to monetize the system via agricultural and industrial client use;
For All: jobs … and an endless water supply for our entire geography.

Leverage sea level rise for our national and collective gain.

[cactuspunk]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Yeah don't say that too loud, you'll get banned. "New Urbanism" has morphed in the past 20 years from promoting transit, walkable neighborhoods, and form-based code to fabricated controversies that drive clicks.

Many U.S. cities are situated on the planet's greatest freshwater lakes and several of its mightiest rivers. It's only because the U.S. is so goddamn wealthy that we have seen preposterous places like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and even Atlanta balloon to sizes that have created water problems that could have been avoided by...not allowing cities in dumb spots to grow, often to the detriment of cities that are in great spots.

Atlanta has been trying to access water from the Tennessee River for many years...meanwhile Chattanooga, which is situated on said river, which was improved at great expense by the TVA upwards of 100~ years ago, refuses to grow.

Perhaps you haven't heard about this reservoir project that Atlanta completed a few years ago. https://watercollaborativedelivery.o...ochee%20River.

[TWAK]

Sites is starting construction this year:

https://www.appeal-democrat.com/news...2e30316c7.html
They need to change the signs heading to LA lol.

[edale]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

• national system of pipelines on the scale of the original interstate system to transfer water from one area to another for agricultural, industrial, municipal, and other use;

I think this idea would be met with a resounding hell no from the Midwest/Great Lakes states, and rightly so.

[craigs]

Water recycling gets a boost in Southern California with new federal funding

Ian James
Los Angeles Times
May 29, 2024

The Biden administration has announced that Southern California’s plan to build the largest wastewater recycling plant in the nation will be supported by $99.2 million in federal funds, an investment that officials said represents a down payment toward making the region more resilient to the effects of climate change.

The proposed facility, called Pure Water Southern California, is projected to cost $8 billion. When completed, it will recycle enough wastewater to produce 150 million gallons of clean drinking water each day — enough to supply about half a million homes. “Investments in water recycling and reuse are key to stretching limited water supplies, making systems more resilient to the effects of aridification in the American West,” U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton said. “Water recycling plays a critical role in improving sustainable water supplies. It’s an innovative and cost-effective tool that can help make our water supply more reliable.”

Plans for the facility in Carson call for taking treated wastewater that is currently released to the ocean and purifying it using advanced technologies to produce drinking water. That purified water will be used to recharge groundwater and will also be sent directly into the region’s distribution system to be mixed with other supplies.
. . . .