Most of the people who drop by seem to agree that blowing up more of Syria doesn’t seem to be the most intelligent solution for the current problem. So, what would be a better solution?

The root cause is a lack of water, and Badtux mentioned a desalination plant as a solution to that problem and it sounds good to me?

This needs to be as local a solution as is possible to really work. This can’t be something imposed from outside, so how do we get there?

Both Iran and Qatar want to run natural gas pipelines through Syria to the Mediterranean to export to Europe. Currently Europe is heavily dependent on natural gas from Russia. The Europeans would certainly like the pipelines. Since the gas is coming from a field that is shared by Iran and Qatar, perhaps they would consider a single, shared pipeline to reduce costs and overhead.

With the pipeline, Syria would have the energy source for a desalination plant, and they might want to consider a power generation / desalination combination facility.

As the world apparently has no problem coming up with tens of millions dollars to blow things up in Syria, wouldn’t it make more sense to use it to build something the entire area really needs – a reliable source of water for people and agriculture?

The governments of the Gulf states and Iran have a lot of experience with desalination and have working examples of most of the different types, so they have the people that can put this deal together, if they want a solution. When there was rain, Syria grew enough wheat for export, so the water will benefit the region with lower food prices.

The politics can sort themselves out after it is certain that something has been done about the underlying cause of the war in Syria, because the lack of water is going to be a continuing problem in the area.

I don’t have the training, but I wonder if it is feasible to feed the clean water into the existing aquifer and use that as a natural storage tank and distribution system, rather than a network of pipes? There are already wells drilled into the aquifer, and if the level can be elevated they will function.

Position: 17.0N 66.6W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [320°] near 8 mph [13 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 45 miles [ 75 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1008 mb.

Currently about 70 miles [ 110 km] South of Ponce, Puerto Rico.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Puerto Rico and the coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to Cabo Frances Viejo.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the coast of the Dominican Republic from Santo Domingo to Cabo Engano.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Happy 5774!

At sunset Rosh Hashanah begins, so get your honey, challah, and apples ready.