The magnificent effects of the continental-scale North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWAPA), proposed by engineers 61 years ago at the Parsons Engineering Company in 1964, would have provided massive amounts of water; hydro-electric power; transformation of environments to produce abundant vegetation and crops; elimination of a major portion of drought in the affected areas; and seriously mitigated the threat from the Santa Ana winds.
If implemented, it would bring 138 million acre feet of water per year (MAFY), from the Tanana and Yukon Rivers in Alaska, gathering those waters in reservoirs. The water would be transported through 7 reservoirs, and 5 lifts, down through Alaska. It would then move through the Yukon territory of northwest Canada, traversing the northwestern and southwestern United States, continuing into Mexico’s western region. The fresh waters of Alaska’s Tanana and Yukon Rivers now mostly flow into the Pacific Ocean. NAWAPA would use about 11% of the excess water which currently flows unused into the ocean.
Humanity would be re-engineering the water flows of the North American continent. The U.S. share of the water would extend to Nebraska, replenishing the crucial Ogallala Aquifer. It would supply water to water-deficient regions of the United States, and serve for the whole western development of the United States. Many other marvelous features can be found in the 21st Century Science & Technology Special Report.
With respect to the Santa Ana winds: Part of NAWAPA’s water would flow to irrigate the Great Basin desert, and enhancing vegetative and other life. Sections of the desert could bloom, just as FDR’s New Deal projects turned the California’s dry Imperial Valley into one of America’s major agricultural produce regions, and transforming the climate to produce regular rainfall. Some of the NAWAPA water flows were designed to go directly into sections of both Nevada and California.
It is possible that, were the air masses of the Great Basin region (perhaps, no longer a full desert), to be significantly wetter, the winds would not be so dry when they reach southern California, which itself would be not be so arid, but wetter. EIR will be exploring this hypothesis with relevant scientists, aero-dynamic engineers, and others over the coming period.
