lenbilen

The Transcontinental Aqueduct; Will it pay for itself?

The goal of the Transcontinental Aqueduct is to save Lake Mead, save the American Southwest from becoming a desert, provide Hydroelectric peak storage for Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, provide sweet Mississippi water for irrigation, provide water to the Colorado river so it again can reach the ocean, revitalize San Carlos lake, provide more and better drinking water to 30 million people, to name just a few benefits.

The cost is substantial. The biggest problem is that the aqueduct must be substantially completed at full capacity before any benefits from the water will materialize. The cost to bring the aqueduct to half capacity is 300.5 billion dollars in construction cost only. This includes the cost of half the pumps or generators needed for full capacity, but not the cost of the power plants. Add to this the cost of filling the aqueduct and the 11 dams. The aqueduct itself will contain 1 million acre-ft of water when filled, the 11 dams will contain about 800,000 acre-ft when half full. To pump 1.8 MAF an average of 5000 feet requires about 10 TWh, when losses are included. Th filling stage water will be pumped, using excess wind and solar power at bargain rates, about 4 c/kwh , the same as the LFTR will produce when fully installed. This is about 320 million dollars in “liquid investment” The electric cost of moving one acre-ft from the Mississippi to the Colorado River is 6 MWh. This power is initially bought from off-peak wind and solar power, but as the aqueduct is completed with true hydropower storage up more and more the power will be generated with 100 MW LFTR power plants, the hydropower storage will be filled with excess wind and solar power.

In short: assuming a 50 year amortization plan for the aqueduct, and money available at 2%, , it will cost 12.5 billion a year in capital cost to deliver 7.5 MAF water from the Mississippi River to the Colorado river or any point in between, or $1,670 per acre-ft. Add to that $240 for electricity and another $50 per acre-ft in overhead and maintenance, the cost will be $1960 per acre-ft

When the aqueduct is fully built up, it will cost $13.4 billion yearly in capital cost to deliver 14.5 MAF of water from the Mississippi River to the Colorado river or any point in between, or $ 925 per acre-ft. The other costs stay the same, so the total cost of water will be $ 1,215 per acre-ft.

I have not yet mentioned the other major benefit of the Transcontinental Aqueduct. If I wanted the lowest cost of water possible, I would have used the lower route, going through the Texas lowlands to El Paso before routing it through New Mexico and Arizona. I routed it through the high and dry parts of Texas and New Mexico, at extra altitude penalty. The intent is to provide Hydropower storage at select places. These places are ideal for wind and solar power, but they need to store the energy when the sun is not up or doesn’t shine, or the wind doesn’t blow. Right now that is provided by coal and natural gas. Conventional nuclear power is best for use as base power only, so this transcontinental aqueduct will provide up to 23 GW of pure hydropower storage for 5 hours a day, but the LFTR nuclear stations providing the energy pumping the water in the aqueduct will shut off the pumps for five hours a day, or when the need arises, and instead provide another 20 GW of virtual hydropower power.

These 43 GW of hydropower capacity will be as follows: Louisiana, 0.4 GW; Texas, 18,5 GW (right now, Texas has no hydropower storage, but plenty of wind power); New Mexico, 10.5 GW; Arizona 13.6 GW. In Addition, when the Transcontinental Aqueduct is fully built up, the Hoover dam can provide a true 2.2 GW hydrostorage poser by pumping water back from Lake Mojave, a 3 billion dollar existing proposal waiting to be realized once Lake Mead is saved.

The amount of installed hydroelectric power storage is:

U.S. operating hydroelectric pumped storage capacity

Most hydroelectric pumped storage was installed in the 70’s. Now natural gas plants provide most of the peak power. This aqueduct will double, triple the U.S. pumped peak storage if virtual peak storage is included. By being pumped from surplus wind and solar energy as well as nuclear energy it is true “Green power”. Some people like that.

July 27: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Romans 13. Paul reminded the Romans of all people to submit to government, follow the laws, pay their taxes and debts, love their neighbor and put on Christ. Any government is better than anarchy.

Job 9. Job: There is no mediator, no one is righteous before God, even though I am righteous.

Job 10. Job: I would Plead with God.

Job 11. It was time for Zophar the Naamathite to speak. He urged Job to repent.

July 26, read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Romans 12:9-21. Paul reminds us to behave like Christians (little Christs), act in love, bless those who persecute you and overcome Evil with Good.

Job 6. Time for Job to reply: “My Complaint is Just.” And

Job 7. “My Suffering is without Comfort.”

Job 8. Bildad, the Shuhite replied: “Job Should Repent.”

Psalm 64, of David. The enemy has arrows and shoots at the man who prays for God’s protection. But God has arrows too, and He hits his targets. The righteous shall be glad and trust in the LORD.

July 25: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Romans 12:1-8. Paul reminds us that we shall offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God, serve God with the spiritual gifts He has given us, do it as members of one spiritual body.

Job 5. Job has sinned, and for that Job is chastened by God.

Psalm 63, of David. Seek God early, praise Him, this is better than life, praise Him.

July 24: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Romans 11. Israel’s Rejection is not total, but because of their rejection of the Gospel, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Israel’s Rejection is not fatal, all Israel will be saved according to Scripture. The chapter ends with a Doxology, if you are in the habit of memorizing Scripture, this would be a good passage to memorize

Job 4. Job’s friend Eliphaz was first to speak: Job has sinned –

July 23: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Romans 10. Paul claimed that Israel too needs the Gospel, “ if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” It is true in the Gospel, that “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek,” but Israel rejected the Gospel.

Job 2. Satan Attacked Job’s Health, and then Job was visited by three friends, keeping him company for a week without saying a word.

Job 3. Job deplored his birth speaking to his his three friends, and they still kept quiet.

July 22: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Romans 9. After the glorious chapter 8 Paul turned his attention to Israel and their rejection of Christ, they are after all God’s Sovereign Choice and the Children of Promise. God administers justice as he seed fit: “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,” and Israel’s unbelief was “Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

Job 1. This is the oldest book in the Bible and predates even the Pentateuch. It is written in old Aramaic. Job and his Family lived in in Uz, righteous before God. Satan attacked Job’s Character and as a result Job lost his property and his children.

Apocalypse in China. Two dams in inner Mongolia burst! Like catastrophic flooding in Europe, blame climate change first!

Two dams collapsed in the Hulunbuir proince on Sunday, July 18.

6,660 people were affected; 53,800 acres of farmland was flooded; 22 bridges, 124 culverts, and 15.6 kilometres of highway were destroyed….Casualties are unknown.

On July 20 was reported heavy rains in the Henan province caused flooding of the Yellow river and its tributaries. The yellow river normally does not even reach the ocean for 3 months of the year!

In Europe flooding occurred in at least 7 countries. It started with heavy rains in the beginning of July, some areas received 4 inches of rain, over three times the normal rainfall for all of July, then on July 14 fell another 4 inches. The dams were already full to the brim, so many areas were flooded.

Here is a very good summary of the events in Europe, and as you expected, climate change is blamed.

What did he mean by “We are now officially in the era of climate change.”

Europe and China have always had floods. In fact, casualties have gone down substantially in the last hundred and fifty years. Here is a chart from Europe:

Dams has always been important since the beginning of industrialization, first as water wheels to provide power, then with electricity the rivers were really exploited to provide hydroelectric power. Flood control was also important, and there is a trade-off, which is more important, electric power or flood prevention? To maximize electric output you want to have the dams filled to the brim at all times, for flood control you want to have the dams at half full, to always be ready to absorb the next rain. The problem is that in so doing the dams only produce 70% of maximum energy. To complicate matters, the last ten years there has been a large investment in wind and solar energy, and when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, the hydro-electric power storage will have to fill in the gaps, if we are to have any clean energy at all times.

This was the case in Europe in July. The early rains had filled up the dams to within a foot of maximum, and there had not been any controlled releases to prepare for the additional rains expected. Bureaucrats hate to do controlled releases, they see billions of Kilowatt hours go to waste. The bureaucracy failed, these decisions must be made with no delay, but if politicians rather than technically competent people are to make the decisions, the time delays inherent in any bureaucracy will make disasters like these happen again and again.

July 21: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Romans 8:28-39. This is my favorite chapter in all the Bible, and is far too important for my feeble comments. Read it together with all the Old Testament references, let them serve as the commentary; then read it again. Let it sink in, then pray with thanksgiving.

Proverbs 11. The list of Solomon’s Proverbs is many chapters long.

Psalm 62, of David. David, as always claimed God to be his rock and salvation, even when surrounded by false and evil men, he would not be moved. All power belongs to God.

July 20: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Romans 8:1-27. This is my favorite chapter in all the Bible, and is far too important for my feeble comments. Read it together with all the Old Testament references, let them serve as the commentary; then read it again. Let it sink in, then pray with thanksgiving.

Esther 8. With Haman out of the way, the Jews were still in peril, since the edict of the king could not be changed, so Esther pleaded again to the king and a new edict was proclaimed, the the Jews had every right to defend themselves and strike back, and so Esther saved the Jews.

Esther9. The Jews triumphed, and the first Purim was celebrated.

Esther 10. Epilogue about the greatness of Mordecai.