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Navirrigation

Dredger ship sails across Australia
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First buy your dredger. The largest you can get. Start at the East coast of Australia and sail due West, digging a chanell as you go, and using the on-board earthmovers, throw the spoil over the side. The seawater will fill in behind, floating your ship. Eventually when you arrive in the central desert, just go round in circles till you create lake.
john b, Jan 02 2002

Baked and Burnt http://www.myflorid...s/html/kissimee.htm
In 40 years you can fill it in again! [LeBain, Jan 04 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

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       Whatever floats yer boat
thumbwax, Jan 02 2002
  

       Pretty tall throw needed for the spoil, huh?
neelandan, Jan 02 2002
  

       Err, why?
angel, Jan 02 2002
  

       Navirritation.
phoenix, Jan 02 2002
  

       WIll your on-board earthmovers have sufficient anti-gravity power to allow the water to flow up the Great Dividing Range? If so, can you please build a decorative waterfall at Uluru?
mighty_cheese, Jan 02 2002
  

       peter please marry me?
po, Jan 02 2002
  

       To Hell with the garden, let's go right through his house.
phoenix, Jan 03 2002
  

       Some extra water might be useful around Sydney right now. (How's that going, [UnaBubba]? I heard that they can you see the smoke from NZ.)
angel, Jan 03 2002
  

       There are plenty of mining and tunneling machines that move forwards through rock carving out a tunnel. If you started one at the seaside, it could go straight ahead and dig you a tunnel or ditch which would then fill with water and where it was underground you could tap it off at appropriate points. However, chances are that the water table inland is higher than sea level in any case, so conventional wells would be equally useful. Besides, deserts are nice places, and canals only fill up with supermarket trolleys and corpses. Unless you fancy a career as a police diver, I would say this isn't much less stupid than airlifting icebergs.
pottedstu, Jan 04 2002
  

       While it is true that alot of Australia is in drought at the moment, this idea wouldn't help the drought because it would just be seawater anyway. With no freshwater source, even the lake that you create in the central desert will be seawater. If we were going to convert seawater into drinking water, we'd just do it with seawater from the sea.
emjay, Dec 19 2006
  

       Errrrm, sort of like a canal?
Murdoch, Dec 19 2006
  

       Ah, I get it. The boat floats in the existing channel, has a dredger on the front, which it uses to extend the channel forwards.   

       It would only work to get through sand and silt though, not hard earth or rock, unless it was one of those big coal miney type scoop whatsits.   

       //I heard that they can you see the smoke from NZ. angel, Jan 03 2002//   

       Wow. That's actually true today, too.
BunsenHoneydew, Dec 19 2006
  
      
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