Middle East stretches its straw to soggy Pacific NW

Coastal Washington has lots of water. The Middle East does not. So, what’s the sensible thing to do? Why, ship Washington water to Quatar.

That’s what they’re thinking nowadays down in Aberdeen, anyway. And it’s not a pipe dream, either. Gulf Pacific Rim Group from Doha, Qatar, is asking about buying 30 million gallons of water a day, maybe more, according to a story in the Aberdeen Daily World by Stephen Friederich. http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2009/06/25/local_news/doc4a43b73844d7f921445785.txt

Gulf Pacific has even set up an office near Seattle to handle the negotiations. You can’t make up this kind of stuff.

Aberdeen Public Works Director Larry Bledsoe told the City Council this week that with the closure of Weyerhaeuser’s mill in nearby Cosmopolis, that city finds itself with excess water. As Freiderich notes, it’s one thing in oversupply along the Washington coast.

Freiderich’s piece is almost over before Bledsoe himself sounds the question that lots of big thinkers on water have posed as these move-the-water schemes have come forward in recent years:

“Beyond the economic questions, there are a lot of societal questions, too,” Bledsoe said. “Like, do we want to sell our water to an overseas company?”

On the other hand, Aberdeen could use the dough. And, have you watched “Chinatown” latelyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Desert? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown_(1974_movie) .

(If you're after a more journalistic treatment of the water-moving business, check out Peter Anin's recent book "The Great Lakes Water Wars" http://www.amazon.com/Great-Lakes-Water-Wars/dp/1559630876. Of course, the classic Western take on water manipulation is Marc Reisner's "Cadillac Desert." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Desert