Wow. I like this solution.
I think we, in the US, often just use brute force to solve problems. With cooling in cities, brute force would be to try and use conventional air conditioning combined with every man for himself to solve the problem. That isn't always the best way. But this French approach, requires centralized, long term planning, something we are not always good at.
Still there are a lot of US cities with cold water sources that could do this. Nice article.
