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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Arab sheikhs to change the climate in the region, bringing an iceberg from Antarctica
2017-05-07
[Sunday Express] The scorching Middle Eastern country, and much of the transcontinental region, is in the midst of a drought with some studies suggesting a water shortage could last for the next 25 years.

The UAE, which is among the top 10 water-scarce countries in the world, hopes to help ease the stress of a drinking water shortage by towing an iceberg from the freezing Antarctica in order to create more drinking water.

The National Advisor Bureau Limited’s (NABL) managing Director Abdullah Mohammad Sulaiman Al Shehi says an average iceberg contains "more than 20 billion gallons of water” which would be enough for one million people over five years.

Up to four-fifths of an iceberg’s mass is underwater, and due to their vast density, they would theoretically not melt in the boiling climate of the Middle Eastern coastal line.
Posted by:Skidmark

#8  #4 Yep. Desal is the answer.
Posted by: phil_b   2017-05-07 20:10  

#7  It seems a large area of Africa has large underground water reserves(5000 years old). In my area they drilled on a mountain. The water found was at three hundred feet deep. The bit and pipe broke off. Two hundred feet of it fell into the lake of underground water. They sent a camera down to find it. It wasn't found. It had fallen to a depth as yet undetermined. I have heard it said that within the earth exists water quantities much greater than currently exists in our oceans.
Posted by: Dale   2017-05-07 13:31  

#6  I remember Qaddafi and his secret cavernous water reserves. Easy to work a deal in my opinion.
Posted by: Dale   2017-05-07 13:21  

#5  I read a short story once that described strapping a nuclear propulsion plant onto an iceberg which they then smashed into Africa for fresh water. Made a port after it all melted. I wondered at the time how many tugboats you would need ....
Posted by: Elmomoger Fleath6537   2017-05-07 10:28  

#4  ultimately the UAE will end up using Israeli desalinization technology, perhaps laundered through a dummy corporation in Leb or Cyprus
Posted by: lord garth   2017-05-07 08:44  

#3  Ditto Mike. I think I saw an exhibit about this at the NY World's Fair in '64 right next to the atomic powered Panama Canal replacement and the clearing the Amazon for farming.

Seems that the energy required to move a berg is rather more than is economical.
Posted by: AlanC   2017-05-07 08:24  

#2  I'm sure we're going to hear the Usual Suspects denounce this idea any time now

No way, Islam trumps all the rest of SJ/environment issues.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2017-05-07 08:21  

#1  ...Y'know, this has been proposed I don't know how many times in my lifetime, but nobody's ever actually tried it.

And given the stark screaming berserk terror over the loss of ice in the Antarctic, I'm sure we're going to hear the Usual Suspects denounce this idea any time now...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2017-05-07 08:17  

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