Brett Walton reports this morning on the initial cost estimates for a pipeline/canal thingie to move Missouri River water to western Kansas:

By all measures, it would be a mammoth undertaking. A 360-mile canal to move Missouri River water uphill across Kansas would cost $US 18 billion to build and $US 1 billion per year to operate, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers technical report. That figure includes power stations and pumping stations, but does not include the cost of a canal network to deliver water to individual farms. Design, administration, and interest on the loans would add another $US 10 billion.