NationStates

Based on proposals like the Bradfield Scheme, or the idea to move water from China’s south to the north, or from the Mississippi River to the USA’s west. I know what you’re thinking, “but Aussie, aren’t you the one always complaining about making assumptions about the geography of @@NAME@@, well yea, but in this case, it’s valid, because deserts are ALWAYS on the western of continents, and eastern side is ALWAYS rainier. Assuming that a desert is in the west is the equivalent of assuming that it’s colder at the top of the mountain than at the bottom

[title] The Waterworks

[validity] all I guess

[desc] As more and more people are moving to the rural areas of @@NAME@@, some of them are facing issues with water- some have too much of it and others too little. As such, there are calls to build infrastructure to move water from the tropics and snowy regions to the desert.

[option] A resident from the desert town of Xerokokalo barges in through your door and starts to rant "It's a bloody outrage it is! Our three year drought meant that me wife's petunias died and I can only flush the dunny once a week! Meanwhile, Greenville has so much water that they ski in the winter on it and dump in the ocean when it melts! So much water just dumped in the ocean! As if the ocean ain't got enough water! Bring some over here! I know it'll cost a lot of money, but we need it! So do all the other towns near here!" @@HE@@ then pours of glass of water on the ground and yells at it to the desert.
[effect] the government has spent ¾ of the annual GDP on literal pipe dreams

[option] "I used to hate it when my town was considered "too small" for daily snow ploughing and I had to fit the chains, so I moved to the tropics, and now it’s even worse," complains @@RANDOMNAME@@, who tipped a wheel barrel full of water on the floor to prove a point. "Every wet season, my new town is shut off for days or even weeks at a time, because the bridge in and out isn't tall enough. How can we build water infrastructure across the entire country, when we can't even build a damn bridge tall enough for the rains? Look, @@LEADER@@, we have to do something monsooner or later, so why not now?"
[effect] it is often theorised that the giant bridges in small towns are compensating for the size of the mayor's tiny community

[option} Whilst your janitor mops up all the water spilt on the floor through the air events emerges Helen Back, a well-known environmentalist who begins to screech "Won't somebody please think of the turtles? Look @@LEADER@@, I know that isn't ideal to have parts of the country flood whilst others are in drought, but some places need the flood waters to sustain the environment and who told people to live in deserts? Why should we destroy the environment for those who choose to live in places in drought and flood prone locations? The water should stay where it is!"
[effect] using your neighbour's flood water to water your plants is a criminal offence

Australian rePublic wrote:deserts are ALWAYS on the western of continents, and eastern side is ALWAYS rainier

That's true in tropical (0°-30° N/S) and polar (60°-90° N/S) regions, which is relevant because, for other reasons, the most arid deserts tend to be near 20°-30° N/S anyway. In the temperate (30°-60° N/S) zone, prevailing winds actually tend to blow from west to east, although those latitudes tend to not form outright deserts on either side of the continent unless it's a really large continent (see: the Gobi desert, near the east coast of Asia... and also the Taklamakan, which is ringed by so many mountains that it would be in a rainshadow regardless of which side of the continent it's on).

West European countries (England, the Netherlands, France) are not in general known for their dry deserts. (Parts of Spain do tend to be somewhat arid, but that's more due to weirdness caused by the Mediterranean Sea.)

Equatorial Africa is also weird for reasons that I don't fully understand, with the Congo rainforest extenting almost all of the way to the west coast, while the east coast (Somalia, etc.) has one of the world's very few equatorial deserts, and the famous Serengeti savannah (not a desert, but drier than a rainforest) is also on the east coast.

And a country shaped like Italy or Thailand isn't going to have much difference between the east and the west anyway.

I don't think the geographical aspects of @@NAME@@ should be hashed-out as long as you mention a part that's drier or has less water access and another area with plentiful water (rain, access to rivers, access to lakes, etc.). I think it could make more sense if the drier/desert regions are becoming attractive for people to live and thus has high population growth rates where demand far exceeds supply of water (states like Arizona and Nevada in the US have grown massively), because there really is no use to transfer water to drier regions if nobody wants to live there.

Next draft is up!

Trotterdam wrote:

Australian rePublic wrote:deserts are ALWAYS on the western of continents, and eastern side is ALWAYS rainier

That's true in tropical (0°-30° N/S) and polar (60°-90° N/S) regions, which is relevant because, for other reasons, the most arid deserts tend to be near 20°-30° N/S anyway. In the temperate (30°-60° N/S) zone, prevailing winds actually tend to blow from west to east, although those latitudes tend to not form outright deserts on either side of the continent unless it's a really large continent (see: the Gobi desert, near the east coast of Asia... and also the Taklamakan, which is ringed by so many mountains that it would be in a rainshadow regardless of which side of the continent it's on).

West European countries (England, the Netherlands, France) are not in general known for their dry deserts. (Parts of Spain do tend to be somewhat arid, but that's more due to weirdness caused by the Mediterranean Sea.)

Equatorial Africa is also weird for reasons that I don't fully understand, with the Congo rainforest extenting almost all of the way to the west coast, while the east coast (Somalia, etc.) has one of the world's very few equatorial deserts, and the famous Serengeti savannah (not a desert, but drier than a rainforest) is also on the east coast.

And a country shaped like Italy or Thailand isn't going to have much difference between the east and the west anyway.

Cheers. Fixed, thanks!

Outer Sparta wrote:I don't think the geographical aspects of @@NAME@@ should be hashed-out as long as you mention a part that's drier or has less water access and another area with plentiful water (rain, access to rivers, access to lakes, etc.). I think it could make more sense if the drier/desert regions are becoming attractive for people to live and thus has high population growth rates where demand far exceeds supply of water (states like Arizona and Nevada in the US have grown massively), because there really is no use to transfer water to drier regions if nobody wants to live there.

Fixed, thanks!

bump

Last call

Something like

“Pfft, for free?” scoffs rich businessman @NAME@, brushing his tuxedo even though it isn’t dirty. “No, these desert beggars can pay for it. If they die of dehydration, that’s their fault for being poor! Allow companies to privatise water, hell, maybe you can even tax it and make more money! I know your palms could be a bit greasier.”

Effect: Desert towns sell their souls for water

Terra Magnifica Gloria wrote:Something like

“Pfft, for free?” scoffs rich businessman @NAME@, brushing his tuxedo even though it isn’t dirty. “No, these desert beggars can pay for it. If they die of dehydration, that’s their fault for being poor! Allow companies to privatise water, hell, maybe you can even tax it and make more money! I know your palms could be a bit greasier.”

Effect: Desert towns sell their souls for water

I'm sorry, I'm confused here, who said anything about it being for free? As for if we charge for water or give it away for free, have it government owned or privately owned, I believe that that would be a different issue

While there could be some crossover with #96 and #264, the premise seems workable, but I think an explanation could be needed as to why more people are moving to those rural areas despite access to water being such an issue. Perhaps more affordable housing? You need to try to emphasize that the draft comes from a different angle, and I think in this case it is that there is enough water in the country, but that it is not being distributed equally, as opposed to droughts, etc.

[desc] As more and more people are moving to the rural areas of @@NAME@@, some of them are facing issues with water- some have too much of it and others too little. As such, there are calls to build infrastructure to move water from the tropics and snowy regions to the desert.

You can put the suggestion to relocate water in one of the options instead of in the description. Here's my suggestion: "As thousands flood the most arid and rural areas of @@NAME@@ in search of lower rent prices and affordable living, disproportionate access to water has become a stark issue, with wealthier towns hoarding too much of it while others can't get a sip."

The structure of the issues doesn't seem to fit the premise. You have 1) get water from the tropical and snowy areas of the country, 2) build better water infrastructure so tropical towns aren't shut off, and 3) keep the water where it is on account of environmentalism. It feels like 1) and 2) are trying to do the same thing but are just said from the perspective of someone living in either an arid or tropical region. The environmentalism angle doesn't seem to fit in with the other two options, I think perhaps going for an affordability angle would work better, questioning the viability of such infrastructural changes.

I've put this issue on hold til I figure out how to deal with it

Kaschovia wrote:While there could be some crossover with #96 and #264, the premise seems workable, but I think an explanation could be needed as to why more people are moving to those rural areas despite access to water being such an issue. Perhaps more affordable housing? You need to try to emphasize that the draft comes from a different angle, and I think in this case it is that there is enough water in the country, but that it is not being distributed equally, as opposed to droughts, etc.

Having people move to unlivable areas due to high cost of living doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The root problem in that case is the cost of living rather than water.

If he restructures it to be about a community deteriorating due to increasingly hostile environment instead of people seeking out cheap rent by going to inhospitable environments, it'd probably read better and there are plenty of real world examples to draw from. That also allows him to move the water/environment solutions into the options and open up other solutions to the problem: relocating the people, who cares they decided to live there, etc.

Luna Amore wrote:

Kaschovia wrote:While there could be some crossover with #96 and #264, the premise seems workable, but I think an explanation could be needed as to why more people are moving to those rural areas despite access to water being such an issue. Perhaps more affordable housing? You need to try to emphasize that the draft comes from a different angle, and I think in this case it is that there is enough water in the country, but that it is not being distributed equally, as opposed to droughts, etc.

Having people move to unlivable areas due to high cost of living doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The root problem in that case is the cost of living rather than water.

If he restructures it to be about a community deteriorating due to increasingly hostile environment instead of people seeking out cheap rent by going to inhospitable environments, it'd probably read better and there are plenty of real world examples to draw from. That also allows him to move the water/environment solutions into the options and open up other solutions to the problem: relocating the people, who cares they decided to live there, etc.

Thank You very much. I'm gonna split this into two separate issues, one about rural infrastructure and the other about moving water across the nation