our global future when the river runs dry

#Our global future when the river runs dry professional#

In fact, more water is exported from the Colorado River basin than any other river in the world.īut can the Colorado continue to meet the growing demand? A recent study by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation looked at several factors that could affect river levels and water use over the next 50 years and concluded there will be a significant gap between water supply and demand. Southern California’s Imperial Valley, irrigated mostly from the Colorado, grows an estimated 80 percent of the nation’s winter vegetables. Tumbling along its 1,450-mile trek, it generates enough electricity to power more than 4 million homes and irrigates 15 percent of the nation’s crops on 4 million acres of farmland, helping feed the entire nation. Its colorful canyons and dramatic landscapes offer unparalleled rafting, fishing, hunting, hiking and wildlife viewing that generate an estimated $26 billion each year for the recreation industries. The more than 240,000 square miles of the river’s basin are a mecca for tourists and naturalists from around the world. An increasing population and persistent droughts, combined with a faulty formula for allocating its water, are decreasing flows on this magnificent American river, jeopardizing not only the river itself, but one of the country’s fastest growing regions.Īs the river meanders its way from the Colorado Rockies to the Gulf of California, it supplies water to more than 30 million people in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California, 15 Native American tribes, seven national wildlife refuges, five national parks and four national recreation areas. The mighty Colorado River, named for the red rocks of the spectacular canyon walls it so famously carved during the past few million years, is in peril.

RUNNING DRY The arid West searches for ways to save the Colorado River, an over-tapped endangered national treasure that helps feed the entire country. Law, Criminal Justice and Public Safety.Communications, Financial Services and Interstate Commerce.

#Our global future when the river runs dry professional#

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