William Shatner proposes $30 billion water pipeline from Seattle to save California from drought






LOS ANGELES -- Celebrity William Shatner says he plans to start a $30 billion Kickstarter campaign to fund a water pipeline to save California from a dangerous drought. He says the pipeline could take water from a place like Seattle.

In an interview with Yahoo! Tech's David Pogue, Shatner explains “California’s in the midst of a four-year-old drought,” he said. “They tell us there’s a year’s supply of water left. If it doesn’t rain next year what do 20 million people in the breadbasket of the world do? In a place that’s the fifth-largest GDP? If California were a country, it’d be fifth in line -- we’re about to be arid! What do you do about it?”

"I want to build a pipeline, say from Seattle, a place where there is a lot of water -- there's too much water!" Shatner says.

He goes on to say, "How bad would it be to get a large 4-foot pipeline, keep it above ground, because if it leaks you are irrigating. If it leaks, the people pay you. And bring it down here and fill one of our lakes."

Of course, this plan would require extensive resources, planning, cooperation and money -- maybe even more than he plans to ask for in the Kickstarter campaign.

As unlikely and improbable as the idea may be, Shatner is bringing up an important topic that is too often overlooked.

“If I don’t make $30 billion, I’ll give the money to a politician who says, ‘I’ll build it.’ Obviously, it’s to raise awareness that something more than just closing your tap … so why not a pipeline?”