Interbasin transfer

While ancient water supply examples exist, the first modern developments were undertaken in the 19th century in Australia, India and the United States, feeding large cities such as Denver and Los Angeles.

Since the 20th century many more similar projects have followed in other countries, including Israel and China, and contributions to the Green Revolution in India and hydropower development in Canada.

Projects conveying water between basins economically are often large and expensive, and involve major public and/or private infrastructure planning and coordination.

Projects of this type can also be complicated in legal terms, since water and riparian rights are affected; this is especially true if the basin of origin is a transnational river.

There are dozens of large inter-basin transfers around the world, most of them concentrated in Australia, Canada, China, India and the United States.

The oldest interbasin transfers date back to the late 19th century, with an exceptionally old example being the Roman gold mine at Las Médulas in Spain.

Other interbasin transfers include: The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in the US, which serves to divert polluted water from Lake Michigan.

Michigan Ditch in northern Colorado carries water from the North Platte River watershed over Cameron Pass to the South Platte River watershed.
In this experiment, juvenile green sturgeons are being dragged into an unscreened water diversion pipe operated under conditions like those found in the Sacramento River .