The Diminishing Lifeline of the Southwest
Power, beauty, and life. These were all given to the settlers and travelers that had their gazes stolen by the Colorado River and its tributaries for thousands of years. Millions of years before then, the mighty river has been creating beautiful and incidental creations in nature like the Grand Canyon and the Horseshoe Bend among its serene valleys and meandering streams. Numerous wonders, both man-made and natural have been integrated into the Colorado River, which spans over 1300 miles, running from Colorado to California across seven states. However, the initial power, beauty, and life of the river face an irreversible fate. It is crucial in today’s age to examine and reflect on the past and current state, imbalance in supply and demand of the river, and the possibilities of combating the crisis that we have caused.
From over 2000 years ago, since the Fremont culture, human lives have depended on the Colorado River, with industry and city usages taking a huge portion of the water flow. Today, it is mainly used for irrigation, industrial, municipal resources, and power generation. Other resource users of the river are recreational areas, wildlife, and its habitats that require a healthy flow of water. The surrounding community’s dependency on the great river both directly and indirectly affects the lives of more than 40 million people in the United States and Mexico. Over the last decade, the average water usage has exceeded the supply and is continuing to increase. The supply of the Colorado River faces a grim future if this trend continues. The river’s water feeds into the irrigation of more than 2 million acres of land, 11 national parks, hydroelectric dams, and livestock.
Due to over-consumption and inadequate usage, the supply decreased, causing less power output for the dams as the reserves also decreased. Due to these side effects, it has caused a negative feedback loop of less supply and less hydroelectric energy. Currently, the warmer climate also has an effect on the runoff of the river. Having runoff that depends on annual inflows more than the varying seasonal reservoir inflows means factors that affect the reservoir storage in significant ways could possibly imbalance future inflow predictions. A study done on the effects of climate change on hydrology and water resources of the Colorado River Basin has models predicting that numbers of increasing evaporation in the reservoirs and changing in precipitation could further have negative effects. On the other hand, the models also show a potential increase in precipitation and melting of snowpack for headwaters in the Rocky Mountains. However, it is only a temporary mitigant as almost 90% of the discharge of the river comes from snowmelt from the snowy peaks that are being polluted by oil, dirt, and gas. This pollution has accelerated the melting process, making it seem like the water discharge can be balanced naturally, but it has severe consequences as time goes on.
As climate change and human usage both affect the Colorado River in mostly negative ways, it is critical to find ways to mitigate and protect the health of the river in the near future. However, the demands for each sector increase and with no foreseeable decrease in growth with side effects that span across the entire river body. The U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation alongside other studies and projects such as MIT’s “Mission 2012”, University of Washington’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering study, U.S. Geological Survey “Colorado River Basin Focus-Area Study”, all aim to combat the negative effects and its causes that damage the overall health of the Colorado River and its dependents. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, the projected use of the river supply in the next five decades without intervention and effective future management show projected demands still increasing as the average water supply diminishes.
As industrialization and population continues to grow everywhere around the world, it is important to manage the finite resources that impact our daily lives. The water quality, especially near the lower areas of the river, directly affects millions of people and livestock’s livelihoods. Improper management and legal actions that should protect the Colorado River have not been put into place and not enforced as demand for bodies of water increases in nearby regions. Inadequate usage has and continues to lead to devastating results as most of them are irreversible. Many initiatives are led by institutions and organizations to help combat this issue before it’s too late. This is not only an issue special to the Colorado River Basin but also to any body of water that people rely on for consumption and industrial use. Approaching these issues is critical as the world faces an uncertain future regarding climate change and the changing environment as a result.
References
Video: Chasing Rivers, Part 1: The Colorado | Nat Geo Live, YouTube, National Geographic
Website: Mission 2012: Clean Water, MIT
Article: The Effects of Climate Change on the Hydrology and Water Resources of the Colorado River Basin, Christensen et al.
Web Archive: Formative Era/Fremont Culture, Bureau of Land Management
Study: Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study, U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation
Publication: Monitoring the Water Quality of the Nation’s Large Rivers, Colorado River NASQAN Program
Publication: WaterSMART -The Colorado River Basin Focus-Area Study, U.S. Geological Survey
