Colorado River Basin Essay

Water scarcity is increasing worldwide and dramatically affecting first world nations such as Spain, Australia, and the United States. All nations are now starting to recognize that the world's water is a finite resource, and that resource is being drastically altered in both availability and quality by development, climate change and population growth. In the United States, the Colorado River is experiencing rapid declines in volume. Recent studies and data suggest that the changes in frequency, intensity, and timing of the availability of water will have substantial impact on the way we live our lives in the 21st century and beyond. As Letmathe Brakeck said, “I am confident that, under present

One of the largest geographic physical structures in the United States is the Colorado River. Human activity and its interaction with this great river have an interesting history. The resources provided by the river have been used by humans, and caused conflict for human populations as well. One of these conflicts is water distribution, and the effects drought conditions have played in this distribution throughout the southwestern region. Major cities such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other communities in the southwest depend on the river. It provides water for over 20 million people, irrigation for 2 million acres of land, four thousand megawatts of hydroelectric energy, and over twenty million annual visitors for

Yet, humans have limited control on natural events, so this only reinforces the importance of managing water wisely. Recently California’s government has begun to focus more on sustaining and restoring the water supply. Dale Kasler (2016) articulates in his article some of the steps they have decided to make to solve this serious issue. The government has made the following investments: “$415 million for watershed restoration and other environmental aid for Lake Tahoe; up to $335 million for two proposed reservoirs in California, including the Sites reservoir north of Sacramento; $880 million for flood-control projects on the American and Sacramento rivers in Sacramento; and $780 million for flood-control projects in West Sacramento” (para. 10). This could be the first step to restoring the water to California. But these

The Red River Compact Commission was created and signed by 1978 by 4 states Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The Red River, the northern boundary of a lot of the state, is a major water source for all four of these states and was being fought over until this commission was made to help solve many of the disputes that could come up. Similarly, Texas has more agreements with other states including the Sabine River Compact Commission and the Rio Grande Compact. These commission serves the same purpose as the other commission, to make sure that all states receive the correct amount of water and that neither state ruins the water for any other one. The United States has an agreement with Mexico regarding the Colorado River that helps decide what should be done with a river that gives water to more than 33 million people across the two nations. The agreement is made to help the Colorado River make it back to the Ocean which will in turn help refill Lake Mead, the main source of water for the city of Los Vegas. The major treaty between the US and Mexico that Texas has a large hand in is the Treaty of February 3, 1994. This treaty restricts the water that the other country can take from the Rio Grande river, and guarantees the US one-third of the water from 5 tributaries in Mexico, and guarantees Mexico all of the water from two other tributaries. This treaty also allows both nations to dam parts of this

Texas, with its abundances of natural resources, is facing a new demon, one that doesn’t even seem possible, a shortage of water. Water, without it nothing can survive. Texas is the second largest state for landmass in the nation and ninth for water square miles. Within the borders of Texas are more than 100 lakes, 14 major rivers, and 23 aquifers, so why has water become such an important issue for the state? Politicians and conservationists all agree that without a new working water plan, the state could be facing one of the most damaging environmental disasters they have ever seen. The issues that shape the states positions are population growth, current drought conditions, and who actually owns the water.

Now Arizona is not the typical state that has a lot of precipitation and rain yearly, but it depends off other reservoirs, lakes, and rivers located in other states to for their water supply. After searching and conducting research, it was found that the main impact Arizona is suffering from the drought is decreasing water levels is from Lake Mead (located in Nevada), and the Colorado River, which flows North to South through several U.S. states. Research and data found shows that the Bureau of Reclamation releases water into the Colorado River below Lake Mead to meet water demands of downstream users in Arizona and California, and also to satisfy treaty obligations to the Republic of Mexico. Findings by the Bureau of Reclamation show that Lake Mead water level’s peaked at 1,214.26 in January of 2000. Almost a decade and a half later, recorded in January 2014, the water levels of Lake Mead are now 1,108.75 (Smith, 2014). This findings show that Arizona is continually getting a decline in water from Lake Mead every month that passes, affects thousands of residents living in Arizona, which already lacks water to begin with. If this continues, this can cause many civilians to both stand by and bare the drought as long as they can, or decide to move out of Arizona to states with a better water supply, so they won’t be burdened with the continual burden of having to ration and conserve water. The state has

The Buffalo River area is a karst environment with attendant sinkhole and cave formation. Limestone, composed primarily of CaCO3 and dolomite composed primarily of CaMg(CO3)2, are the two soluble rock types in the area that host the karst features. Water in contact with air picks up carbon dioxide some of which transforms to carbonic acid, and this acid then dissolves the carbonate minerals, carrying the ions out in solution (e.g. Trudgill 1985). Limestone and dolomite layers vary in impurities and grain size so that different layers are more or less prone to dissolution, with dolomite generally being less soluble than limestone. To erode these rock formations with very low intergrain porosity and permeability, there has to be exposed surface area and so faults and joints within the rock greatly increase the rate in which the rock will dissolve, and partly control the location of

Serving as the “lifeline of the Southwest,” and one of the most heavily regulated rivers in the world, the Colorado River provides water to 35 million people and more than 4 million acres of farmland in a region encompassing some 246,000 square miles.

The Colorado RIver is best known for being the principal river of the southern United States and Mexico, but it soon could lose that title. Running about 1,500 miles long, the river is a vital source of water for agricultural and urban areas in the southern desert lands of North America. However over the past decade or so, the river has begun to deteriorate. There are many causes and solutions to the deterioration of the Colorado River.

Due to the lack of rain in the past few years, and particularly in the last few months, California faces severe drought. This is the worst drought in more than one hundred years. The impact of California drought affects community, agriculture, organic ranchers, and dairy farmers. Because of these facts, the United States must rethink the way it uses water. Californians alone are asked to reduce their water usage by twenty percent to prevent water waste.

Specific purpose statement: To persuade my audience to take action in order to conserve one of the most finite and precious resources we have in the U.S.

I believe that this is also going to be a problem in the future. The greenhouse gasses are raising the temperatures of our atmosphere. The Colorado river is 19 percent below averages century. I agree that the rainfall will affect the rivers droughts. Scientist our continuing to make predictions on what the river will be like years from now. We are the ones who controls this problem. This river supplies water for 40 million people if it dries up that is more water we have to find to supply for 40 million people. I agree that if we don't fix this drought there will be a huge problem. There has been a lot of rainfall recently and I think that could potentially help the river with its drought. These states are some of the hottest states in the

Figure 4. Historical water supply and demand in the Colorado river basin (U.S Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation, 2012)

Our city, named Riverview is located in Mexico and has a thriving population of 67,985 residents. Since most of our city is located on a high plateau and high elevations, Riverview enjoys mild, pleasant weather nearly all year. The temperature in winter averages between 68 and 74° 6 and in summer the average temperature is around 83° Fahrenheit. However, most of the city has temperate climates that are very favorable for settlement and agriculture. The Colorado River is located right below our city, so tourists can arrive on boats to look at our astonishing city. Our neighborhoods are placed on land, but our main city is supported by giant water filtration pillars above the river, saving space.. We have a massive bridge that connects the

When addressing the nature of water changes, it is critical to distinguish droughts- departures from a local climatological norm that is presumed known- from actual dryness itself. After conceptually separating the two, it was found that America was not just in a temporary drought but would continue to grow drier. (Sherwood) A key component that many high-profile climate reports fail to consider is that with warming land, more rain is needed to sustain it. Although many regions will get more rain, few will get enough to match the growing evaporative demand. If this demand is not met, precipitation will continue to decrease, and our water resource will continue to shrink. (Sherwood) Although humans could take further measures to reserve additional freshwater, “humans already appropriate over 50 percent of all available renewable freshwater.” (Srinivasan) Because water consumption is proportional to the available amount of water, as America’s freshwater supply drops they begin to use a higher percentage of this valuable resource, leaving little amounts of water for other purposes. (Sherwood) To compensate for this high-use of water, America must put caps