One of the regrettable things of living in the Midwest is that everyone shits their pants whenever someone outside the Midwest hints they want Great Lakes water. The Southwest isn't just a thousand miles away, but it's also uphill. Not only would we have to build the pipelines, but we'd have to build power plants along the way to support this. /rant
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/04/10/great-lakes-water-piped-southwest-our-future-says-nasa-scientist/100301326/
@gborcus Also, stop growing crops in the desert. But, that cuts against the grain of American Exceptionalism. So, it's not a conversation we'll have until it becomes a massive crisis.