Colorado River Management

Examine the competing demands for water in a specific river basin. Evaluate the strategies that have been adopted to meet these demands.

What is the economy like in this area of the US? What major cities are in or near the basin? What is the climate like in much of the basin?

Much of the lower basin has little annual rainfall, with desert conditions Drought and water shortage is a chronic issue in the US southwest

The river is 2334 km in length and flows through Colorado, Utah and arizona and forms part of the border between Nevada and California. The final 120 kms flow through Mexico.

THIRST! Propaganda? Film promoting Colorado water diversion projects in the 30’s Wako Wako Colorado aquaduct MUFPpU MUFPpU

In 1922 the Colorado River Compact was signed. This was an agreement that divided water allocation between the states in the upper and lower basin. It was based on the idea of riparian rights: The rights, which belong to landowners through who se property a natural watercourse runs, to the benefit of such stream for all purposes to which it can be applied. Riparian rights basically ensure that not all the water is used by those people located upstream. However, Mexico was not included in the Compact. The Compact lead to the creation of dams and diversion works all along the Colorado River.

Main dams along the Colorado

Water is diverted great distances from the river to feed urban areas and agriculture

Canals move water across the desert and evapoartion increases the salinity. The salt in removed desalinisation plants in several locations.

Hoover Dam and Lake Mead are examples of the many dams and reservoirs along the river

I am Red….great overview of the use and abuse of the Colorado River, great images. (3 min) Ee44 Ee44 Video about use but also efforts to rejuvenate the delta (10 min) W746s W746s

Can the exploitation of the Colorado be sustained? Water rarely reaches the Gulf of California in Mexico. Political implications? Ecological implications? The native americans have very few rights to water that has flowed through their lands for 1000’s of years. Groundwater has disappeared in many areas and drought is frequent in the SW…put more pressure on water from the Colorado. The population of the SW continues to grow.

SUSTAINABLE?? The Rocky Mountains snowpack that flows into the Colorado River is at half of normal levels again this year. Some global-warming studies conclude that rising temperatures will reduce the Colorado’s average flow after 2050 by five to 35 percent. The Colorado River basin has lost 15.6 cubic miles of freshwater in the last 10 years. Since December 2004, the basin of the Colorado River lost nearly 53 million acre feet of freshwater (about 75% of the loss was groundwater). The Colorado River has been experiencing 14 years of drought which is nearly unrivaled in the past 1,250 years. Most years, every drop of water is pumped out of the Colorado River before it empties into the Gulf of California to 2014 was the lowest 15-year period since the closure of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, with an average unregulated inflow of 8.39 million acre-feet, or 78% of the 30-year average ( ). Lake Mead, the largest reservoir on the Colorado River, has dropped over 140 feet over the past 15 years.

HW 1. Prepare a summary of the costs and benefits (SEE) of the exploitation of the Colorado River. 2. Read the doc on the drive entitled International Conflict Over Freshwater and follow the instruction at the top of that doc.