Brilliant solution for the Somali famine/drought

[union]

Use a fleet of tugboats to tow an iceberg to Somalia and let the people drink, irrigate the land, etc etc.

[union]

Great minds think alike:

In Utah, even though we’re the second driest state, we rarely think of water shortages. This year, the record snow pack has kept rivers running high and reservoirs topped up nicely. Most lawns I drive past are a lovely, rich green color surrounded by lush foliage.

But elsewhere, in water-parched Somalia for example finding enough to drink let alone water a garden is a mammoth task. Now a 40 year-old idea from Frenchman Georges Mougin is being refloated. How about using tugboats to bring Arctic icebergs off the coast of Canada’s Newfoundland down to the edge of Africa?

A French software developer, Dassault Systems crunched the numbers and finds the fanciful idea is perfectly feasible.
It would take about five months and the iceberg would lose only about 40 per cent of its frozen mass. A 30-ton ‘berg could keep half a million human beings flush in fresh water for a year. The cost? How’s a mere 10-million dollars sound?

From a world perspective, that’s a bargain in my view. The UN could collect that in a couple heartbeats. It’s less than what the US government spends on the Afghanistan war EVERY HOUR, according to various estimates.

An article on popsci.com reports each year 40-thousand icebergs break away from polar ice caps on their own. If we can put an international space station into orbit, or stage regular Olympic Games surely we can fashion a way to move a giant ice cube into the glasses of thirsty, dying humans half a world away. It’ll be headline news when it happens. Old man Mougin, he’s 86 now is raising cash to try and make his dream a real lifesaver.

[Knight of Wisdom]

That's a pretty good idea.

How long will it take to sail from where ever it's coming from to Mogadishu, Somalia or Mombasa, Kenya?

[haxxor]

Mine's much more better AND cheaper.

[union]

Mine's much more better AND cheaper.

Whatever.

[union]

That's a pretty good idea.

How long will it take to sail from where ever it's coming from to Mogadishu, Somalia or Mombasa, Kenya?

Five months, provided reer puntland don't try to intercept it on the high seas.

[DropkickMurphy]

That's a pretty good idea.

How long will it take to sail from where ever it's coming from to Mogadishu, Somalia or Mombasa, Kenya?

Five months, provided reer puntland don't try to intercept it on the high seas.

[Knight of Wisdom]

That's a pretty good idea.

How long will it take to sail from where ever it's coming from to Mogadishu, Somalia or Mombasa, Kenya?

Five months, provided reer puntland don't try to intercept it on the high seas.

[AhmedBoqor]

That's a pretty good idea.

How long will it take to sail from where ever it's coming from to Mogadishu, Somalia or Mombasa, Kenya?

Five months, provided reer puntland don't try to intercept it on the high seas.

Our industry is in no need of icerbergs, we have water all around us, but we'll check you out anyways

[Samatr]

a reverse osmosis machine which is only like 250 could save 1,000's of lives.

[Monk-of-Mogadishu]

Do you monkeys realize there's water BENEATH the ground? And have you forgotten that there's water in RIVERS? Those things don't disappear during droughts. How about pointing these people to rivers or telling them there's water below them. 5 meters is all they need to dig to hit water in most places.

There you go, I just saved 1 million lives, where's my Nobel peace prize?

I have a feeling that IQs won't jump after this drought and we'll see another famine in 5-10 years as per usual.

[abdisamad3]

Mine's much more better AND cheaper.

oh yeah you stole my idea,
viewtopic.php?f=246&t=282537

[Samatr]

you can refine the coastal waters, well water pretty much any dirty water and garner 100 gallons/day with the basic reverse osmosis machine, this is some small scale stuff though but it can save countless lives.

[grandpakhalif]

@ union

[AgentOfChaos]

Please don't quit your day job.