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If The Drought’s So Bad, Why Not Tow In An Iceberg?

Icebergs aren’t just for salads or obstacles for oceangoing ships anymore. They’re also one of the 150 possible water shortage solutions submitted to the Colorado River Basin Water study.

Towing icebergs from the arctic was one of the most interesting, but it certainly wasn’t alone. When the study reached its fourth phase, it turned to the public for options and strategies to solve the Basin’s growing supply issue. Some of the more ‘unique’ solutions ranged from importing water from the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, to geyser flow control devices.

The idea of towing icebergs for clean, fresh water has been around for hundreds of years. According to the Atlantic, “long distance iceberg towing is one of those ideas that will not die but never really springs to life either.”

In what can only be described as a plan hatched by a James Bond villain, The RAND Corporation issued a 96 page treatise on the subject of icebergs as a fresh water source. It was complete with complex mathematical diagrams and floating nuclear power plants.

While the submission to the Colorado River Basin study seems nothing more than an impractical idea, the thought of icebergs being used as a clean water source for drought stricken areas seems more than a passing phase, if in spirit more than practice.

You can read more on the Colorado River Basin here, or even read the public submissions here. Feel free to sound off in the comments with your water supply solutions, fanciful or practical. Even if it would take Brewster's Millions to fund it.

http://youtu.be/svKq044qrYU

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