Suriname Will Tow a Giant Bag of Water to Fight the Caribbean's Drought

Re:Suriname Will Tow a Giant Bag of Water to Fight the Carib... by semi-extrinsic on Sunday November 27, 2016 @07:34AM (#13048834)

Actually, work does scale with the diameter. For lower diameter pipe, you can use a smaller, less specialized lay barge with less crew, the welding goes quicker meaning progress is faster, and you can fit more km of pipe on each supply ship.

Also, the cost of permits (called Right-Of-Way, ROW) is a very small fraction of the total cost, as is the planning cost. Materials cost for the pipe, OTOH, can be as much as 60% of total.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Suriname Will Tow a Giant Bag of Water to Fight the Carib... by aaron695 on Sunday November 27, 2016 @07:47AM (#13048879)

I guess the boat system can be moved around the world to meet demand. Unlike a pipeline that might not get used again for another 10 years.

Still I think the numbers seem off for a boat dragging water in bags for 6 days to be cost effective.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Suriname Will Tow a Giant Bag of Water to Fight the Carib... by semi-extrinsic on Sunday November 27, 2016 @07:54AM (#13048902)

If you've never purchased pressure-rated pipe, you'd be shocked at the cost of even a 6m piece of 1" PN20 pipe.

[ Parent | on HN ]