I was watching the rain today, and was wondering why places like Africa don’t get water. “Because it doesn’t rain,” was the obvious answer. So, if the water won’t come to them why not take the… water… to them… (Dammit, I’ve never been able to use that cliché).

But anyway, my idea is this. Africa is surrounded by water. Like a farmer bringing water to his land from a near by river, why not do that for the centre of the country, where they’re dying of thirst? The idea is stupidly simple, and I’m sure there’s a glaringly obvious problem with this idea, but no one has been able to point one out to me yet.

Basically, dig a huge river (I suppose that would be called a canal) ultimately from one side of Africa to the other. Right along the equator. It’ll fill with sea water. They obviously can’t drink sea water though. But I’ve thought of that too!

Along side this new canal build a bus stop like building over the top of it. The water will evaporate and condense on the plastic of the cover and run down the sides into some sort of container or pipe, which will lead the water to a water well. It’ll now be fresh water and clean enough to drink.

The biggest barrier I guess would be funding it, but I can’t imagine that a plastic sheet and a few pipes could be that expensive. Some company could just donate them. And I’m sure the Africans would happily work for free to build the river – after all, they’re getting fresh water at the end of it.

So, tell me why this is a dumb idea?