Photo via imdb.com/Steve Granitz
Photo via imdb.com/Steve Granitz

California is staring down one of the worst droughts in history — but residents shouldn’t worry, Captain Kirk is on it.

William Shatner gave Yahoo tech reporter David Pogue a “scoop,” saying that he was on the problem.

Shatner’s solution? Build a giant water pipeline along I-5 from Seattle to California.

“So I’m starting a Kickstarter campaign. I want $30 billion,” Shatner told Pogue in the interview. “To build a pipeline like the Alaska pipeline. Say, from Seattle — a place where there’s a lot of water. There’s too much water. How bad would it be to get a large, 4-foot pipeline, keep it above ground — because if it leaks, you’re irrigating!”

When Pogue asked Shatner where the pipeline would end, he replied, “Bring it down here and fill one of our lakes! Lake Mead!”

For those of us who have a firm understanding of geography, by the way, Lake Mead is in Nevada. And as the reservoir at the bottom of the Colorado River Basin, western states have already been battling it out over the water rights to Lake Mead, especially Nevada, Arizona and southern California, for a while now. You can read more about that ongoing environmental nightmare in this recent NPR post.

The Washington State Department of Ecology told USA Today that Shatner’s plan was “highly illogical,” as half our state is already in drought. Seattle Public Utilities also told USA Today that it carefully manages our water, which is accounted for already. So, sorry, Shatner.

California’s Gov. Jerry Brown has already called for a 25 percent reduction in water use for the state, but as the New York Times reports, “The 25 percent cut does not apply to agriculture, which accounts for 80 percent of water use in the state.”

This Shatner-saves-California caper is not on Kickstarter as of this time.

You can watch the Yahoo David Pogue interview with Shatner below:

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