/sci/ - Science & Math

What do you think about flooding Death Valley with desalinated seawater? It's practically begging to be filled.

>>15109495

>Unironically we should adopt the Burman model and start building new major cities from scratch

I've had this recurring autistic idea that we should use nuclear fusion power to flood the area that is now Death Valley with desalinated seawater to recreate the big freshwater lake that existed there 20,000 years ago, and then build a new futuristic city, "New Venice" on the southern shore of the lake.

I'd also build a maglev line that connects Los Angeles, New Venice, and Las Vegas

How would we re-create the ice-age lakes that used to exist in the region that is now Death Valley National Park?

I've had the nagging autistic idea lately on how to solve both California's energy and water crisis in one fell swoop.

I would use desalinated seawater from a nuclear powered desalination plant to flood the area that is now Death Valley National Park, creating a new reservoir and essentially recreating the ancient lake that previously existed there 20,000 years ago. I would have the boiled seawater piped over land as steam to a condensing plant at the north face of the valley, and would fill the valley as closely as possible to the lake's original shoreline (about 400 feet above sea level). I could also harvest valuable metals that naturally exist in trace amounts in sea salt, such as lithium and uranium. The runoff from the lake would be used for farming.

For extra autism, I would build a new Dubai-like city "New Venice" surrounding the south face of the lake. The local economy would be engineering and biology research, urban farming, and manufacturing for renewable energy systems.

I am aware that a high speed rail line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas is under development, and I would advocate having it pass through the new city as an intermediate stop before building an airport.