I hear today of further proposals for water conservation measures for my state of California. I hear of the mountains of snow piling up in regions to the east. And I hear the continuing debate over the proposed routes for tar sands petroleum pipelines, how many jobs might result, and at what environmental cost and risk. And a few months ago I had already been half-joking about an idea, one I now feel deserves its own discussion: "We don't need an oil pipeline from north to south; we need a water pipeline from east to west!" Not only would it solve two problems at once, it would put many people to work on not only the pipes, but purification equipment, pumps to take the water over mountains, and renewable energy plant to power the project. And the best part is, it can only leak... water!!!



