Colorado River // American Nile
"Why care about water?" FACTS
1. More than 97% of the worlds water is too salty to drink
2. Another 2% is locked up in ice caps and glaciers
3. Less than 1% is left for drinking, agriculture, industry, and nature
4. Over 1 Billion people don't have access to safe drinking water
5. 4,800 people die every day from water-borne disease
The American Nile
The Colorado River and its dozens of tributaries carved out the Grand Canyon and the Rocky mountains, pushing mineral-rich sediment to the sea. But today, the American Nile doesn't even make it to the ocean. The Colorado River itself, almost unbelievably, stopped running to the sea after the completion of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1966. The river hasn't flowed to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico since 1998. The cause: agriculture.
Population growth as well as climate change have exacerbated dry conditions, but it all started with farming. Irrigation ditches and canals were put into the ground, and now consume about 70 percent of the Colorado River Basin's water. The Colorado River is a scenic wonder to the 36 million Americans it supplies with water. There are many solutions for the Colorado. Conservation—large-scale xeriscaping, irrigation reform, a more watchful eye on the consumptive water-energy nexus, and discretionary crop planting.
Choice Article
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One of those requirements is the implementation of water-saving systems on farms. Under the terms of the QSA, the IID will deliver water to the San Diego County Water Authority and the Coachella Valley Water District for up to 75 years. The IID plans to meet its water obligations through a combination of efficiency improvements to its water delivery system and to on-farm water use. The disagreements about fallowing will become moot by 2018, which is when the QSA requires that the program end. By then, farmers are supposed to have implemented various on-farm water conservation systems to reduce their water usage.
Colorado River Discussion
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