Great Basin – Active Climate Rescue Initiative

It’s Not My Fault! It’s Climate Change!

It is not really Climate Change’s fault. We created this climate change, so we must fix it. This must be done!

Is it really Climate Change?

Everybody is blaming Climate Change, so it must be true. Let’s study the problem with the Colorado River. Let’s see if it’s Climate Change causing the diminishing flow of the Colorado River or if misuse of the river’s water is causing climate change?

How Can Water Be Misused?

Something we have learned by experience is that if you move fresh water out of its watershed, there will be unintended consequences. The more water you remove the greater the surprise.

We Removed Lots Of Water.

During the last century humans have redirected Colorado River water out of its watershed. In this case “lots” means all of it. A normal river will begin as a stream and end by dumping huge amounts of water into the ocean. Just think of all that nice freshwater being dumped into the salty ocean. What a waste of valuable freshwater! So, shouldn’t it be diverted before it is lost? Well, we did and the unexpected happened.

What was the unexpected?

The river delta at the end of the Colorado River covered 9,000 miles² in Mexico. When all the water was removed, that delta became dry. A lush green place turned into a dead 9,000 miles² desert. That is a huge environmental catastrophe. That was a change in the local climate.

That is in Mexico. Should we care?

From an aspect of being nice to our neighbors, we should care. Following a Biblical adage: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! (Luke 16: MSG). Would we wish someone to make a 9,000 miles² desert in our country? Then we should not have made one in Mexico. This desert is a dry and desolate place where once were plants, birds, fish, and animals living their daily lives. The unfortunate critters had to migrate to new homes or die.

But There Is More!

More? Yes. The verdant delta provided moisture to areas around it, bringing mist, rain, and snow. The moisture traveled north and kept Laguna Salada, Baja, MX filled with water. The evaporation from Laguna Salada traveled north to help keep the Salton Sea full. Moisture from the Salton Sea moved north and entered the Great Basin, where it circulated until it came to rest in the Great Salt Lake. The water in the Great Salt Lake then created moisture which fed the headwaters of the Bear, Colorado, Jordan, Snake, Rio Grande, and Weber rivers. Finally, the Colorado River carried the water back to the delta where it could start again, but we drained it all out. Since the mid 1900s the delta has been a desert. It gave no moisture to Laguna Salada. Since 1999 Laguna Salada has been dry and gives no moisture to the north. The mega-drought began in 2000. As a result of the mega-drought there is less water in Salton Sea, less water in the Great Basin, less water in the Great Salt Lake, and now less water in the Colorado River. This hydrologic cycle has been broken, and until it can be repaired, the SW-USA will experience greater and greater water shortages. This is exactly what we have seen since 2000.

We Broke It?

Yes. We broke a major water cycle by draining the river dry. So, let’s fix it by no longer taking the water out of the river. Wait! There are a couple of billion people who will have a problem with that plan. We need another plan which will let the people get their water.

Let’s Conserve. That Will Do It.

Conservation is a great strategy to get through a short-term problem. So, yes, conserve. But we need more than a short-term fix. We need a real durable solution which will restore the broken hydrologic cycle.

Can we fix a water-cycle?

In this case there is something which can be done which will repair this problem and may even improve the hydrology of the entire SW-USA. That is almost too good to be true.

How To Fix A Hydrologic-Cycle.

The base plan is to rehydrate the Great Basin. Water must be moved into the Great Basin to change it from an arid, water deficit, environment into a place with a water surplus. There are multiple routes which can be used to bring water into the Great Basin. What must be avoided is bringing in freshwater. We have already learned that removing freshwater from its watershed will cause unintended consequences. We do not want to create another environmental disaster to fix an environmental disaster.

Ocean Water.

The only water which can be moved without detriment to its originating environment is ocean water. The ocean has plenty to spare and cares little if we take some out of it. Once moved into a hot dry climate the ocean water will evaporate and be converted into fresh clean water, returning to earth as mist, rain or snow.

What Route Is Best To Move the Water?

The route we propose begins at the Gulf of California (the Sea of Cortez), passes through Laguna Salada, Baja, MX, moves across the MX/US border into the Salton Sea, from which it is pumped over a mountain into Death Valley. This route has multiple benefits for the regions along its path.

Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX.

The existing Coyote Canal, which passes through the Colorado River delta, is to be dredged deeper and widened so that its flow is reversed and will allow gravity to move ocean water into Laguna Salada. Along its path it will bring some desperately needed hydration to the Colorado River delta.

Laguna Salada, Baja, MX.

Laguna Salada was once the fishing grounds for some of the indigenous peoples of Mexico. Cutting off the Colorado River flow allowed this fishing grounds to become dry and useless. Restoring Laguna Salada will be giving climate justice to these people.

Salton Sea, CA, USA.

Extending the Coyote Canal from Laguna Salada to the Salton Sea will allow gravity flow of ocean water into the Salton Sea. This water has a much lower salt content than is currently within the Salton Sea. By increasing the surface level of the Salton Sea, the existing toxic dust problem will be permanently abated. This will save California millions of dollars which it is now spending on abating the same dust. Refilling the Salton Sea will also invigorate the local economy which has a rich history as a desired vacation spot. This invigorated economy will help to refill the nearly empty coffers of California as the tax revenues roll in. The increased surface area of the Salton Sea will launch more moisture into the air which will be beneficial for the local farmers and indigenous peoples.

Pumps And Pipes.

Active Climate rescue Initiative usually eschews pumps and pipes because they require energy to operate and must be maintained over the decades they will be used. It has always been the intent to install systems with gravity flow which will continue to operate even after man has stopped caring about them. Unfortunately, this installation mandates pumps and pipes, however, it is unlikely that man will lose interest in this system because it will be what feeds the Colorado River and supplies water to billions of people. The cost of construction, operation, and maintenance can be funded by a fee on water drawn from the Colorado River.

Bureau of Reclamation.

The Bureau of Reclamation is the best entity to manage this installation and operation because it is the reclamation of a water system, which is exactly their mission. The construction, operation and maintenance funds can be gathered as a user fee, based on volume of water drawn from the Colorado River. Those who have been draining the Colorado River dry have been doing so at no cost (other than transport costs) for decades, and they have ruined a local environment in the process. The fee is not punitive but is only payment for services rendered.

Without These Pipes And Pumps.

Without these pipes and pumps operating, the mega-drought will become the new normal and the Colorado River flow will continue to diminish until it reaches an unacceptable new normal. The Colorado River will not be the only river effected. The Bear, Jordan, Snake, Rio Grande, and Weber rivers will, if they have not already, experience decreased flow rates. The entire SW-USA and NW-MX will become sahara-like.

Death Valley, CA, USA.

A modulated amount of ocean water must be placed into Death Valley. This is not intended to flood Death Valley. The amount of water within Death Valley is not the determination of how much water is needed. The gauge for the intake will be the Great Salt Lake. If the Great Salt Lake level becomes too high, the flow into Death Valley will be reduced. Death Valley will have a standing pool of hyper saline water, but that is normal to nature. Death Valley is a dry terminal pool which is hyper saline, but it has just been a long while since it had any substantive standing water. Regardless of where water is added to the Great Basin, the lowest place within the Great Basin will gain a pool of water. That lowest place is Death Valley. Death Valley will gain water from the pumping operation, but as the water evaporates and returns as rain, Death Valley will also receive returning surface water. The resulting hyper saline terminal lake may not be aromatically friendly, but being as remote as it is that should not be grossly offensive to many people.

The Great Basin, NV, UT OR, WY, ID, USA.

The Great Basin is a large bowl (200,000 miles² , 520,000 km²) where all surface water flows in, and none flows out. The environment within the Great Basin is considered arid, which means it is a desert. This is a large desert which includes most of Nevada, half of Utah, substantial portions of Oregon and California, and smaller pieces of Idaho and Wyoming. This large desert exists because of a weather phenomenon called Rain Shadow. The Rain Shadow effect allows more water to be blown out than it allows to be blown into the Great Basin. Adding ocean water into anyplace within the Great Basin will benefit the whole Great Basin because it will evaporate, and the airborne moisture will circulate within the Great Basin to moisten the ground, rehydrating the entire desert.

Rehydration of Great Basin.

This is magic at work. This is the power of natural processes shining. Consider the ocean water as the fuel to fire the process of rehydration. The action of depositing ocean water into Death Valley, the hottest place in the USA, will immediately initiate evaporation. Being a bowl, the moisture will circulate within this bowl and be deposited throughout the bowl as mist, rain, and snow. This freshwater will invigorate plants and encourage wildlife. It will fall on the ground and wash the salt from the soil toward the salt lakes. It will enable farming and will fill aquifers. The many indigenous peoples conscripted to live within the Great Bason will experience some climate justice by the availability of fresh water in their wells. Over time this will change 200,000 miles² of desert into moist soil good for farming.

The Great Salt Lake, UT, USA.

Situated in the northeast corner of the Great Basin is the Great Salt Lake, a highly saline terminal lake. Because of the broken water cycle this lake is in imminent danger of becoming a salt plain instead of a salt lake. As it evaporates it exposes its sediments which are expected to contain lots of toxic materials. Dust from nuclear testing is one of the more scarry of the substances which is expected. Salt Lake City, situated on the banks of the Great Salt Lake, and downwind of the lake is in direct line of fire for these toxins. Allowing the Great Salt Lake to fully evaporate is not acceptable. Pumping ocean water into Death Valley will solve this potential problem with no further expenditure of energy. Natural processes will move water from Death Valley into the Great Salt Lake and keep it full. This is expected to work so well that the pumping will have to be monitored to assure that too much water does not make it into the Great Salt Lake.

Headwaters.

Colorado is a headwater state. Meaning that almost all of its rivers begin in the Rocky Mountains and flow out of the state. The moisture which stocks these headwaters with rain and snow originates from multiple water cycles. During this mega-drought the water cycle which pushed moisture out of the Great Basin into Colorado is broken. All of the rivers in Colorado are experiencing some level of diminished flow. With the water cycle repaired and the Great Basin rehydrated, the full flow will return to all these rivers from Colorado. Fresh clean water will tumble down the mountains to its remote destinations and invigorate life along its way. Those that rely on the Colorado River for life and livelihood will have plenty of water to share.

Conclusion.

With the outlined plan, the original water cycle is repaired, the Great Basin is rehydrated, the Great Salt Lake is saved, and the Colorado headwaters filling their rivers. Human and economic opportunity are returned in places and will be new in other places. The full flow of the Colorado River is assured for decades. This benefits all who live and work in SE-USA and NE-MX. The only negative is a change to Death Valley into Death Lake. The plan can be managed by an existing arm of the US government with an assured income stream sufficient for its construction, operation, and maintenance. Without the plan, billions of people will have some disruption in their lives. We need to: Move the Water!

Spread The Word.

Spread the word that: “Move the Water!” is the initiative which will repair the water cycle, end the mega-drought, save the Great Salt Lake, and refill the Colorado River. This will benefit all the people who live and work in southeast-USA and northwest-MX. By accomplishing this plan, Climate Change will occur, but in the right direction this time.

Help Reverse Climate Change.

Your small donation to Active Climate Rescue Initiative will help reverse Global Warming. Reversing Global Warming and stopping Climate Change is our only goal, and we know how to do it. Your support will allow us to broadcast our message and save the world. Someone must do it. Be that someone. Donate today.

REHYDRATE THE GREAT BASIN

Rehydrating the Great Basin will help reverse Climate Change and provide social Justice to many indigenous peoples located in the Soutwest USA.

The Great Basin is the largest area of connected watersheds with no outlet to the ocean in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. Its basin includes a range of topography that varies from the North American lowest point at Badwater Basin in Death Valley to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than 100 miles (160 km) away at the summit of Mount Whitney. Within the Great Basin are many small basins such as: Great Salt Lake, Pyramid Lake, Salton Sink and Humboldt Sink.

Evaporated moisture from the ocean is carried by the onshore breezes. The moist air is driven upslope towards the peak, where it expands, cools, and its moisture drops to the ground. Most of the humidity will be lost to rain or snow before the wind passes over the mountain range. This casts a broad “shadow” of dry climate region behind the mountain ridges. This moisture deficit encourages deserts to form.

Rain Shadow

It is all about the rain shadow. Basically, the Great Basin is a 209,162-square-mile (541,730 km²) desert created by the rain shadow effect. The Cascade Range to the north, the California Coastal Ranges to the west, and the Sierra Nevada Range to the south provide a significant rain-shadow which has created this moisture deficit condition. Currently the problems in the region include the mega-drought and the associated shrinking Great Salt Lake. Also problematic is the diminished flow of the Colorado, Green, Rio Grande, and Snake Rivers. If the Great Basin could be converted to a moisture positive area, the benefit would be huge. Benefits would be delivered first to the basin itself, but then they would have side benefits to all adjacent areas.

Is It impossible To Thwart A Rain Shadow?

If we could flatten out the mountains the rain shadow would go away and the whole of the Great Basin would become moist and fertile. But it is obvious that the rain shadow cannot be removed. The mountains cannot be flattened. But there is another method. Moisture can be added to the basin via mechanical means, by pipes and pumps.

Pipes And Pumps

By moving the water with pipes and pumps we can rehydrate the Great Basin. this is a huge project with a multi-step process, and for brevity this page will address some of the major tasks which must be accomplished to make this occur. This is the most grandiose Move the Water! proposal for the USA where Global Warming can be impacted, and reversal initiated. Not all possible steps can be included in this page, and there are alternate options for every step.

The Benefits Are Immense.

Bringing water to a desert is bringing life to the desert. Where there is life, there are possibilities. The grandiose statement of return on investment is that by rehydrating the Great Basin a broken water cycle will be mended. Mending this water cycle will break the mega-drought, refill the Great Salt Lake, return full flow to the Colorado, Green, Rio Grande and Snake rivers. This will assure availability of water to the billions of people who depend on the rivers for their life and livelihood. The local Climate Change caused by overdrawing water from the Colorado River will be reversed reducing Global Warming in the southwest USA.

The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The water moves from one reservoir to another, such as from river to ocean, or from the ocean to the atmosphere, by the physical processes of evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, surface runoff, and subsurface flow. In doing so, the water goes through different forms: liquid, solid and vapor. The ocean plays a key role in the water cycle as it is the source of 86% of global evaporation.

Natural Processes

Once we add moisture to the Great Basin, it will recirculate via the hydrologic cycle throughout the whole of the Great Basin. With the water comes localized cooling and plant growth. Some of that water will exit the Great Basin toward the headwaters of the Colorado, Green, Rio Grande, and Snake Rivers, which all originate in the mountains of Colorado. These rivers will regain their full flow which will provide much needed water drinking, farming and industry, as well as for the fauna and flora of the regions. The cooler environment which will accompany this moisture will combat Climate Change by reducing local Global Warming reduction benefits. On the grand scale, there is no downside. Imagine the below video to be the Great Basin. It can be this way; we just need to add water.

Where there is water, there is life By Afrika24 Reisen

It can be this way; we just need to add water!

The Downside … Change Brings Change.

Change always brings disruption of status quo and unintended consequences, but for the greater global good, these must be endured. The problems are inundation of dry places with standing water, which may render some land unusable for farming or habitation. But standing water is the goal of this initiative and is essential to provide large water surface area for evaporation.

How to Accept Change Is Inevitable by marty wilson

Do you choose death or life?

The Downside … People Live There.

The counter argument is that few people live in the areas which will be submerged. The areas are hot dry deserts. The people who must be relocated can be moved to water’s edge properties, which are usually considered to be more valuable than raw desert land.

The Downside … Farmland Will Be Flooded.

The farmland in a desert is only valuable if irrigation water is available. The good news is that new areas of agriculture will be established. Once water is brought into the desert, and fills the depression, the hydrologic cycle will take over and fresh water will be created via rain, mist and snow, reducing the requirement for irrigation. This is the benefit which will make the change valuable to the farmers. The desert can become fertile and green with addition of water, and some wise land management. The below video gives one option.

From the Ground Up – ‘Regenerative Agriculture’ by festival21

The Downside … Flash Floods.

Rain in desert is associated with flash floods. These will occur and must be endured, but they will naturally diminish as plants cover the ground and impede the unimpeded water runoff. China has done amazing things to stem rapid water runoff from a landscape, and those techniques could be used in the Great Basin (see video near end of article: Regreening the desert with John D. Liu). The below video is aimed at a suburban community, but the information is excellent.

Wetlands Help Prevent Flooding

Flood Control

As the rain increases in the Great Basin, people will work to slow the flow of the rain, which will benefit the environment much. They will engineer wetlands which can contain a lot of moisture and reduce the potential for flash flooding.

Death Valley will become a terminal hypersaline lake.

The Downside … Terminal Water Will Get Salty.

Yes, it will get salty in the terminal lake basin in Death Valley. That is expected and not as much trouble as one thinks. The land which will be initially flooded is already salted from the body of water which previously occupied that location and evaporated. If this is a major problem, recirculation paths for the water can be established to eliminate Death Valley Basin as a terminal pool, but the cost is expected to be such as to discourage such a project.

How to Rehydrate the Great Basin?

This is a multi-stepped process with the end goal of creating a salt sea in Death Valley where the bulk of the evaporation will initially occur.

Rehydrate Great Basin … Step One.

Bring sea water from Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) into Laguna Salada, Mexico via the Coyote Canal. The below video demonstrates the waterway as envisioned by Agess Inc as one option in moving water to Laguna Salada. The option proposed by Agess Inc seems to be one of the less expensive options and it seems to return many benefits.

Binational Restoration of Laguna Salada & Salton Sea by Agess, Inc

This is extremely simple to do.

Rehydrate Great Basin … Step Two.

Bring the sea water from Laguna Salada into the Salton Sea via an extension of the Coyote Canal. This is easily accomplished (easily is a relative term, but it is much easier than the construction of the Colorado River Aqueduct, which is a 242 mi (389 km) water conveyance which crosses the Rocky Mountains delivering water from the Colorado River to Los Angeles CA. The extension of the Coyote Canal needs to be a metered flow to preclude overfill of the Salton Sea. The above video also includes visualization of the extended Coyote Canal. The below video is a video discussion of an alternative idea for filling the Salton Sea with water.

The Salton Sea Solution by stocktondan.

Rehydrate Great Basin … (optional) Step Three.

Install a drain in the Salton Sea. One of the problems identified by StocktonDan is the increasing salinity of the Salton Sea caused by continued evaporation. There are quite a few options presented to mitigate the salt saturation of the Salton Sea being proposed by many people. The solution that I present here is to drain the Salton Sea, but only after steps one and two above have been completed. The below video shows how a drain/valve can be installed in the base of a lake so the water can be drained out like that of a bathtub.

Lake Mead Intake Hydraulic Tunnel, Las Vegas by Salini Impregilo, but a surface level drain is much less expensive.

Rehydrate Great Basin … Step Four.

Step #4 is the construction of pipes with pumps to transport Salton Sea water into Death Valley. This is an expensive project, but the costs can be funded by fees on water diverted from the Colorado River. Those who have been diverting water from the Colorado River have been doing so at no charge for decades. They have been misappropriating the natural resource and have caused damage to the climate as a result. Now is the time to begin charging a fee for Colorado River water. That fee can be used to fund the repair of the hydrologic cycle which they broke.

By pumping water into the Great Basin, the water cycle will be repaired. The Great Basin is an arid desert as a result of the Rain Shadow effect. Adding moisture into the Great Basin will cancel out the effect of the natural rain shadow and encourage the Great Basin to bloom. The additional moisture pumped into the Great Basin will circulate within the Great Basin and eventually make its way to the north and east sides of the Great Basin where some of it will migrate out and stock the snowpacks which create the water for the Colorado, Green, and Snake rivers. With the snowpacks once again full, the flow of the Colorado River will return to its former glory. The hydrologic cycle will have been repaired and the billions of people who rely on that water will be saved and secure for decades to come.

Rehydrate Great Basin … Step Five.

Let the water flow. I expect that it will take much more than the full flow of one 15’ diameter pipe to fill Death Valley with water. If no other input is developed, I doubt that a large lake will form. There will be a balance point where daily evaporation will equal the pipe’s input. Filling Death Valley with water is the subject a paper by Chuan C. Chang: Creating Death Valley Lake His paper suggests multiple intakes with outtakes to keep the salinity to a balanced level. He expects that the land along the new inland sea and along the canals could be sold to individuals and the profit form the land sales would fund the project. Filling Death Valley with water is also the subject of the two videos below.

The Little-Pacific Project by Tribute Flight

Fill Death Valley with Ocean Water by thebillo313

Humorous presentation, but good idea.

We Have Water in Death Valley, Now What?

Now The Fun Begins. No further direct human action is required. What has been accomplished by moving the water there is the most important part. The hydrologic processes do the rest. Let’s review what will occur through natural hydrologic processes.

Water Evaporated and Returns

Water will evaporate from the surface of the newly formed Death Valley Sea. The water will be taken into the air for redistribution in mostly within the Great Basin with smaller amounts passing over the rim and entering the surrounding states. What water is removed will be replaced via the open water path. The evaporated water returned to the Great Basin in the form of dew on the ground in mornings, in the form of rain, and in the form of snow on the tops of the mountains. This returned water is cleaned water, suitable for drinking, for watering plants and irrigating crops.

Plants Grow.

Plants will grow when they have an ongoing supply of moisture. The plants retain water in their structure, they are made up of approximately 90% water, water which is not immediately returned to the ocean but retained as long as the plant lives. The plants clean the air of CO2. They return breathable O2 into the air and use the Carbon as building block for the plant structures, Carbon that will be held in the plant (sequestered) while it lives and be integrated into the soil as the plant eventually decomposes. Plants are natural air conditioners. As water evaporates from plant leaves; the air is cooled. Below is a video about how one desert plant, a moss, collects water from airborne humidity.

PLANT WATER RELATIONS by 7activestudio

Ground Water Collects

As plants shade the ground, the ground temperature is lowered, which allows the water to percolate into the ground, and be held there waiting for use. The soul will become moist and some underground aquifers will be refilled; again, slowing the water’s return to the ocean.

Water Movement in Soil by NRCS NSSC

Step-3:

Given enough time the hydrologic action should re-hydrate the entire Great Basin region. This could generate the natural refilling of several dry depressions within the Great Basin, including the Great Salt Lake. Just by keeping the waterways open allowing the Death Valley inland sea to remain full, these areas could be returned to a healthy fertile area, growing food for many people. The plants and the ground retain water, so the ocean levels are lower. The environment in these very hot places is cooled, which will cool the entire globe.

Videos About Greening Deserts

Get some water into the Great Basin, and then the entire landscape can be terraformed by natural processes, and/or with some human intervention, the Great Basin can become a really nice lush place.