Undersea Water Pipeline Not Feasible, Study Finds : Technology: Congressional agency dismisses Alaska-to-L.A. project as too difficult and too costly. The idea will be the subject of a workshop in L.A.

An undersea pipeline carrying water from Alaska to California is unnecessary and unfeasible and would probably run into vigorous opposition from environmentalists, a preliminary investigation by a congressional agency has found.

Building such a pipeline would be a task equaling or surpassing construction of the Panama Canal, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the tunnel beneath the English Channel, Congress’ Office of Technology Assessment said in a working paper to be presented at a Los Angeles workshop on Wednesday.

Proposals to pipe some of Alaska’s abundant water to drought-plagued California have been advanced by Alaska Gov. Walter J. Hickel and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn. Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles) asked Congress to conduct a feasibility study, and his daughter, Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles) has introduced a bill authorizing the state to do the same thing.

Representatives from regional water delivery agencies, federal, state and county governments, construction firms and the Army Corps of Engineers will examine the feasibility of such a pipeline at the daylong workshop in the County Hall of Administration.

But Don L. Adams, director of resources for the Metropolitan Water District, does not see a pipeline as part of the state’s long-term water plans.

“It would be twice as costly as desalting sea water, and desalting sea water is several times more costly than buying water from the state water bank,” Adams said.

A preliminary estimate on the 2,000-mile pipeline conservatively placed its price at $150 billion, the Office of Technology Assessment said, adding that “such major engineering projects usually end up costing several times more than first estimates.”

Hickel has pushed for an Alaska-to-California water pipeline since the 1960s, and Hahn has supported the idea for at least a decade.

The Office of Technology Assessment is Congress’ “think tank,” supplying congressional committees with technical information and analyses used in considering legislation with technological consequences.