Colorado River Case Study

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

The Colorado River Basin starts in the Rocky Mountains and cuts through 1500 miles of canyon lands and deserts of seven US states and two Mexican states to supply a collection of dams and reservoirs with water to help irrigate cropland, support 40 million people, and provide hydroelectric power for the inland western United States [1,2]. From early settlement, rights over the river have been debated and reassigned to different states in the upper and lower basin; however, all the distribution patterns lead to excessive consumption of the resource. In 1922, the seven US states signed into the Colorado River Compact, which outlined the policy for the distribution rights to the water [3], however, this compact was written during an exceptionally

Arizona has an incredibly large dependence on the Colorado River and groundwater. In fact, 39% of all water usage in Arizona is comprised of Colorado River water. Any dependence of that scale on any resource that originates in another area is always a major risk, as any major disaster or drastic change to the source of the river can cripple the state’s water supply. Furthermore, while Arizona does house the majority of the Lower Basin of the Colorado, the Colorado’s Upper Basin is shared between 4 other states, all with their own water needs and all with a susceptibility to drought. On the other hand, another 40% of all water Arizona uses is from groundwater sources. However, the Colorado River and these groundwater sources in the Colorado River basins have lost over 65 cubic kilometers of water over the last 9 years, with nearly 2/3 of it from groundwater loss due to over-pumping. This is because

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

“Climate change” and its impact on basic water supply is at their foreground. It is an unfortunate reality that the terms of the Colorado Compact, the document dividing the Colorado’s waters, is an unworkable document. Based on allotments formulated in an “especially wet year,” the average volume now flowing does not meet the amounts specified in the agreement. Under the terms of the document, California receives the largest share, but with Southern California’s exploding population, this will be increasingly inadequate. Absent changes in both urban and agricultural use patterns, the deficit will only grow and further stress the state’s political and economic systems. Man’s mastery will thus prove illusory and short-lived and the original problems of water supply will return in highly magnified

Maquiladoras are a manufacturing company which runs in Mexico. They manufacture and assemble goods and ship them. They started to be recognized in 1994 when NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was passed, NAFTA is an agreement signed by Canada, United States, and Mexico.Which is one of the world’s biggest trade zones right now. The maquiladoras are very popular because they are cheap in a way that they can assemble goods for a cheap price. You can save up to 75 %(http://www.madeinmexicoinc.com/faq/) if you import from the Maquiladoras. Maquiladoras can manufacture goods and ship them out for duty-free and tariff free goods. Large companies then take advantage of that by using the Mexican government 's laws. how? Well they use Mexico’s “less strict environmental laws” (http://umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/maquiladora.htm) Which means that the companies can send in unprocessed material and can get it assembled by paying the workers less money.

In 1956, Congress authorized one of the most extensive and complex river resource development projects in the world, the Colorado River Storage Project. CRSP’s vision is to allow Upper Basin states to develop their Colorado River water apportionments while meeting or exceeding required annual water delivery to the Lower Basin. It accomplishes that through four initial storage units—Wayne N. Aspinall Unit in Colorado (Blue Mesa, Crystal and Morrow Point Dams), Flaming Gorge Dam in Utah, Navajo Dam in New Mexico and Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona— as well as a number of participating

With Alternative A, the main flow of the Provo River would be directed into a restored river delta area. Alternative A was designed to maximize the available rearing and spawning habitat for June sucker north of Boat Harbor Drive. The boundary for Alternative A encompasses 507.3 acres. A diversion dam would be constructed in the Provo River and a new channel constructed to divert flow from the existing channel into the delta. Additionally a new outlet dam would be constructed in the lower portion of Provo River/Utah Lake.

Today I am arguing a case for the Boulder Dam. It will be located in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River on the border between Nevada and Arizona. The dam will provide hydroelectric power for places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and other urban center. Originally, farmers had made an attempt to redirect the Colorado through the use of canals, but these canals broke in 1905 and the dam is a viable replacement. Not only will it provide water and hydroelectric power to the developing southwest, it can control the seasonal flooding of the Colorado River and irrigate land in California’s Imperial Valley. Although the construction will be expensive, the power it produces will cover the costs. This would help farmers and other workers in the southwest and the construction can provide thousands of jobs for laborers. I was once concerned that the water will primarily go to California, but Herbert Hoover brokered a compact in 1922, the Colorado River Compact, to divide the water proportionally among the seven states. President Calvin Coolidge will hopefully authorize the Boudler Canyon Project to end the legal wrangling of the

A large portion of where Californians get their water from is the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (also known as the California Delta). In fact, this delta supplies almost two thirds of Californians with both drinking water and water for agricultural land (“Bay-Delta Levees”, 2007). The California Delta is located inland of the San Francisco Bay, and is the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. Currently the vast delta is home to not only fertile farming land, but also thousands of Americans who live in 13 cities and stretch over 1,000 square miles (“Bay-Delta Levees”, 2007). Two of the state's largest water projects- the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project- also rely on these Delta waterways to move water from the Sierra Nevada and other

After James robs the Epstein's store, he gets cut all along his arms from glass shards. Once this occurs, James doesn't know where else to go other than the cave that him and Alfred grew up going to. After a while of just sitting there Alfred comes. He tells James that he has "plenty of blood for [him]" both figuratively and literally. When he says it initially he probably meant that he could donate blood to make up for the loss of James', but looking deeper into this statement it could further mean that, even after James hurt him, Alfred would now be there for James. After this all happens and James and Alfred reunite, Alfred takes him to the hospital to get James' arms bandaged. After James come out of the hospital he is going to try to stop

In 1922, representatives from seven US states met near Santa Fe, New Mexico to discuss and divide the river’s water. Natives, who use the water from the Colorado, on both sides of the border in Mexico and the United States, let alone any Mexican government, were not invited to participate in the discussion. This was the Colorado River Compact. In 1944, Mexico got it’s voice in a bi-national treaty that gave the state 1/10th of the rivers water flow. It took no time for dams and canals to get built, to use the water for dry farming regions, and for power for growing cities. Even Mexico built the Morelos Dam in 1950 which diverted the water to farmers in Mexicali, where there is low precipitation with an arid climate. This river that has been

I believe that the water from the Colorado River should be divided fairly amongst the states. The first part of my plan would be to figure out how many people live in each state. By doing this you can let the states with more people get more water. Next, I think we should take into account which areas need it most. For example, Yuma needs the water for farming, which is a large part of their economy. The final thing that Should be considered is the 1922 Colorado River pact. I believe this is important because it was created in case something like this ever happened, and the states had agreed to it, therefore it would not be fair unless we took it into consideration. If we follow all these steps it may help us fairly divide up the water from

The Maquiladora program has also been an integral part in the rapid growth of the Mexico-U.S. border region. The U.S.-Mexico border separates four U.S. states (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) and six Mexican states (Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas). These are all called the twin cities, although the border politically separates them they share common air sheds and drainage basins. Seventy percent of all Maquiladoras are located in the border region of Mexico. “Over 1,600 Maquiladora plants in the border area employ over 510,000 workers, about half of which are located in the two biggest Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez”. There was a 13% growth in Maquiladora employment in the border region, within the interior of Mexico it was actually 28 %. At

Prior to settlement of the western United States, the Colorado River roamed free. Starting from cool mountain streams, the river eventually became a thunderous, silty force of nature as it entered the canyons along its path. The river nourished wetlands and other riparian habitats from the headwaters in the Rocky Mountains to the delta at the Sea of Cortez in Northwest Mexico. Settlers along the river harnessed these waters mainly for agriculture via irrigation canals, but flooding from spring runoff wreaked havoc on agricultural land, prevented development in the floodplain and full utilization of the water, a waste in the eyes of western farmers. In order to meet current and future water demands in the west, the Federal Government