1. Daily Review #3 End How do rivers and streams form?
Define watershed, delta, ox bow lake, floodplain, tributary and divide
Why is Colorado considered a headwater state?
When it rains in Parker, where does the water eventually end up?
If you live in a city, how does water end up in your faucet and what happens to it when it leaves your house?
End

2. Drought Lack of significant rainfall Due to less precipitation Years
Impacts
Crops and livestock
Groundwater
Increased desertification
Economy
Locations
Sahara
Australia
U.S. (2012, 1920s, 1988)
California
Image:
Droughts are a weather phenomenon and are caused by a lack of precipitation over a period of time, usually years, from a government stand point it is 3 months at the lowest recorded level of precipitation for that area; but a single year drought can be talked about if the precipitation that year was significantly below the average amount
Droughts impact: crops due to lack of rain and may limit what crops can be produced, decrease groundwater levels because what is being pumped out isn’t being replaced at the same rate and more might be used to irrigate cropland during this time also making the matter worse, if a drought is severe enough and the soil dries out it will become unable to support plant life and thus be classified as a desert
Sahara desert in Africa has been getting larger because of drought conditions around its borders and overgrazing of those areas (Sahel) by locals trying to survive, increased desertification
Australia has been experiencing a drought since 2006 and it has led to increased wildfires and decreased agriculture in the central part of the country
The Midwest, Nebraska, etc., last summer experienced a drought and received less rainfall during the summer and many farmers had to harvest their crops a month earlier or more because they were drying up in the fields and no longer producing and some had significant loses in crop production

3. Colorado Water 4 major watersheds Continental divide
Impacts water in states from California to New Mexico

4. 80% of the precipitation
20% of the precipitation
7.1 Million acre-feet
1.2 Million acre-feet
20% of the population
80% of the population

5. Colorado River Watershed
Upper Basin
CO, WY, UT, NM
Lower Basin
AZ, NV, CA, Mexico
Runs through driest part of the country
Averages precip = ≤ 4”
People relying on it
25 million + in US
More in Mexico!

6. Colorado River Compact
1922
Gallons vs %
7 states + Mexico

7. Hydropower What is it? How does it work? Types Conventional
Turbine
Generator
Types
Conventional
Run-of-the-River
Tides
Hoover video in Hoover picture

8. Video in second picture
Three Gorges Dam

9. Daily Review #4 End What causes drought?
What are some of the possible side effects of long-term drought in an area?
What, in your opinion, is the most important issue Colorado faces related to water?
How does a conventional hydroelectric dam create electricity?
End

10. Water Pollution Types Point Nonpoint Sediment Nutrients/chemicals
Pathogens
Trash
Point
Nonpoint
Fertilizer
Algal blooms
Erosion

11. Marine Pollution Accelerating rapidly Noise pollution Oil spills
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Ecosystem Impacts
Deepwater horizon video on oil slick photo

12. Fixing Pollution Clean Water Act (1972) Reduce, reuse, recycle
Limit fertilizers
Limit erosion
Changes in agricultural practices
Barriers during construction, mining, etc.
Decrease usage