<p>Could it be feasible to have a tunnel using gravity to move water underground into central California, where a nuclear power plant can use the water to create electricity and desalinate it at the same time?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-09-20T22:05:01.183Z
Given that elevations *above* sea level in the Central Valley range from 10' at Stockton to 300' at Fresno, how do you envision gravity feed to work? Given that there would be significant political and engineering aspects involved in such a project (off-topic here), please clarify what *Earth Science* aspect you would like to see addressed in a potential answer.
njuffa
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-09-20T23:00:40.213Z
More look at what njuffa said: https://en-ca.topographic-map.com/maps/qrx/California/.  Some areas near Stockton are near sea level, but fairly watery already.  While valley bottom elevations are still ~ 50 meters further south along the San Joaquin River area... the further south you go, the more elevation you'd have to gain... and the further horizontally you'd have to pump it.  It's just tough to envision it's very cost effective for agriculture.  It's a big project, and of course the power (whether nuclear or whatever) is plenty of cost, and desalinization also not cheap.
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-09-20T23:06:04.233Z
Seems like most desalination is for urban use so far.  Long distance pumping does happen in spots.  In fact... it'd probably just be cheaper first for LA to directly desalinate nearby (if reasonably feasible) and thereby free up the CSWP water piped from the Central Valley down to LA for agriculture more.
JeopardyTempest
<water><geoengineering>
Desalination of Pacific Ocean water for California
Joe Campitiello
# Desalination of Pacific Ocean water for California

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-09-20)

Could it be feasible to have a tunnel using gravity to move water underground into central California, where a nuclear power plant can use the water to create electricity and desalinate it at the same time?

**Tags:** water, geoengineering

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Given that elevations *above* sea level in the Central Valley range from 10' at Stockton to 300' at Fresno, how do you envision gravity feed to work? Given that there would be significant political and engineering aspects involved in such a project (off-topic here), please clarify what *Earth Science* aspect you would like to see addressed in a potential answer.  
> **username_2**: More look at what username_1 said: https://en-ca.topographic-map.com/maps/qrx/California/.  Some areas near Stockton are near sea level, but fairly watery already.  While valley bottom elevations are still ~ 50 meters further south along the San Joaquin River area... the further south you go, the more elevation you'd have to gain... and the further horizontally you'd have to pump it.  It's just tough to envision it's very cost effective for agriculture.  It's a big project, and of course the power (whether nuclear or whatever) is plenty of cost, and desalinization also not cheap.  
> **username_2**: Seems like most desalination is for urban use so far.  Long distance pumping does happen in spots.  In fact... it'd probably just be cheaper first for LA to directly desalinate nearby (if reasonably feasible) and thereby free up the CSWP water piped from the Central Valley down to LA for agriculture more.  

---

## 0 answers

