This idea will be expensive, but in the end, I think such a scheme would be worth it.

First, get some land, I'm thinking 2 adjacent square mile plots. dig out 30 feet of dirt+rocks from one plot and spread it evenly on the other. If some minable materials are recovered, mine them.

Then, do whatever it takes to turn the pit into a lake. If it needs some strategically place concrete to keep the water from draining away, do it.

Also, do what it takes to keep the dirt in one place. I imagine you might need trees, and topsoil, and a lot of patience.

After some 20 years, though, you'd have some prime real estate-- all the houses will be 30 feet above the water, and yet have a great view of it.

Getting water for the lake might prove expensive, the maximum evaporation rate for a square mile of water is 4.4 million gallons. But, this will not be so bad if you populate the town build on the high ground. since the average american household uses 100 over gallons a day, the processed wastewater of 50,000 homes will prove plenty to start filling the lake.

Once it's filled, a new wastewater management regime could maintain the lake at the desired water level.

Such a project would involve tranporting about 840 million cubic feet of dirt one mile, but that isn't that much. It's 32 million cubic yards.

http://www.heavyequipmentnews.com/hen/article.asp?article_id=61775

Earthmoving operations cost around $3 per cubic yard, so it'd only cost 90 million dollars.

Considering the fact that we plan to build enough living space up top for 50,000 homes(which will probably be multistoried apartments of various size), that's only an additional cost of $1800 per home. Negligible.

You'd still need an insane billionaire and tons of permits to get this project started, but it's very possible.
-- Madai, Jul 07 2004

Madai's link as a link http://www.heavyequ...sp?article_id=61775
no cha.... [po, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Similar story http://troubleshoot...chive/dailydump.htm
scroll to 05/13/03 Thou Shalt Honor Thy Covenant
They use the word pond, so this appears to be a smaller scale. [swamilad, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Lake Balboa http://www.laparks..../aquatic/balboa.htm
[jurist, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

No, you can't fill the lake with wastewater. You had to actually get the water somewhere else first; it doesn't just pop into existence to fill the toilet.
-- lurch, Jul 07 2004


Per day, 4.4 million gallons per day.

And Lurch, where the water came from originally will be a state matter-- some water company will sell it to the people, and then once it has been bought and used, THEN it enters the waste processing system.

There's plenty of water in the US, the big question is, who's gonna pay to move it?
-- Madai, Jul 07 2004


I believe this has been attempted, though not on such a large scale. I listen to a consumer advocate radio talk show occasionally, and a woman called in complaining that she had bought a piece of land that was supposed to be waterfront in the near future.

As it turned out, the developer was mining the area that was to be the lakebed, but 2-3 years later, the woman still had no lake.

Should work with a scrupulous contractor though.
-- swamilad, Jul 08 2004


Lake Balboa [link] is a 27 acre lake filled entirely with reclaimed waste water in a major park/flood control area in Los Angeles. I'm intimately familiar with it because it adjoins one of my residences, and was in fact one of the reasons I bought the property prior to the creation of the lake. It's pretty much as [Madai] describes, except she has omitted to describe the actual water reclamation and filtration plant, and the opportunity to provide separate wildlife refuge, golf courses and sporting parks (all irrigated by the same treated water) in addition to the central water feature within the project area.

I don't think Lake Balboa is in any way unique, but urban planning on this scale is probably beyond the means of all but the very largest developers and is usually only undertaken at the metropolitan, state, or federal level.
-- jurist, Jul 08 2004


[jurist] *One* of your residences?! /Goggles at rich person/.
-- squeak, Jul 08 2004



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