Comment by derekdahmer

The Owens River source for LA is so good because it’s basically a continuous gradual decline from the source to the city, requiring no pumps.

Pumping is very energy intensive. At around 2000-3000 ft the energy needed to pump fresh water starts to equal the energy needed to desalinate the same amount of salt water.

Even if it’s just going up then back down again like the Tehachapi Mountains only like 1/3rd of the energy can be reclaimed.