From Ian Vallance
If the world needs massive engineering projects to provide fresh water, why not massive offshore desalination plants (7 June, p 30). Coastal conurbations could be supplied directly, and inland rivers could be “topped up” at strategic sites with desalinated water pumped inland using wind and/or solar-powered pumps.
Western countries are already criss-crossed with pipelines, so why not a few more? In developing countries, building such networks would offer the opportunity to lay down other networks at the same time, such as telecommunications or gas.
As hare-brained and Heath Robinson as it sounds, this is surely no less ludicrous an option than the vast civil engineering projects detailed in your article.
Grove, Oxfordshire, UK
