My sister-in-law is a hydrologist and gave me this great book called Cadillac Desert. All about the "The American West and Its Disappearing Water". It tells the story about how many awful projects were funded by Congress as a means of sending pork home.
Many made no economic sense at all, even after the ridiculous stretching of the facts used to justify them. There's even a river in OK or TX whose course has been continually changed, with all the work being done by a company in which the local Congressman had a financial interest.
Yep, a lot of that $13 trillion has simply been flushed down the river with no real benefit.
The book also talks about how Jimmy Carter tried get the states to pick up a tiny percentage of the cost. Suddenly, interest in water projects plummeted, at least until that silly idea was repealed.
Many made no economic sense at all, even after the ridiculous stretching of the facts used to justify them. There's even a river in OK or TX whose course has been continually changed, with all the work being done by a company in which the local Congressman had a financial interest.
Yep, a lot of that $13 trillion has simply been flushed down the river with no real benefit.
The book also talks about how Jimmy Carter tried get the states to pick up a tiny percentage of the cost. Suddenly, interest in water projects plummeted, at least until that silly idea was repealed.