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Pitch

Flood relief, reforestation and reclamation of arid lands.


Description

Summary

We spend hundreds of millions of dollars every few years to dredge the river to maintain the Mississippi waterways and reinforce it's banks. Millions of tons of top soil are lost each year to erosion and flooding around the Mississippi water basin. A canal network would relieve the overflows and reduce the loss of  topsoil and expand the arable land in the mid-western states and potentially reclaim western lands as well.


I propose a system of canals and production of new lakes for water storage from the Mississippi water basin westward. This system would help relieve the wid-west and western states ongoing water shortages and help reclaim arid land lost to deforestation and over farming.


What actions do you propose?

Re-greening in these areas would not only relieve drought prone areas, but would also help to ameliorate climate changes from the loss of arable land in these areas and restore the balance of nature due to over-development of urban areas and would allow for re-distribution of populations to now arid lands


Who will take these actions?

The actions would be funded by the U.S. and local governments and could be developed by the use of private enterprise, the Corp of Engineers and active military engineering units.


Where will these actions be taken?

The United States.
Other areas that are prone to periodic flooding could also develop systems for flood water diversion; i.e., canals and/or dikes, and levies.


How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?


Any reclamation of arid lands would help relieve the effects of global warming


What are other key benefits?

Redistribution of population.


What are the proposal’s costs?

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Time line

Any such project could be done in phases, with each new development compounding the overall sustainability of the environment.
 


Related proposals

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References

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