Save the Colorado River

At the eastern edge of the Grand Canyon, where the Little Colorado and Colorado River meet, is where my family story begins; this place is called “the confluence.” My Shima’ (mom) told me the brown and red canyon is where the holy people live. The merging of the light blue little Colorado and the blue green Colorado river is where our creator Diyin’ (God) began. When we stand on the edge, with the brown, blue, and green, the sun, and the sky we pray with our corn pollen to where everything began. Shima’ told me, we started in the water as bugs. When we emerged out of the river and climbed up the canyon, we transformed into animals. When we arrived at the top of the canyon, we became what we are called today: Dine’ (Navajo people).

Now, we need to save the Colorado River from extinction. The results of climate change have decreased water levels and snowpack that stem from prolonged drought, and the over consumption of water has exacerbated the problem. The Colorado River serves 40 million people in the west, this includes seven states: Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California. All seven states depend on the Colorado River for public water supply, irrigation, aquaculture, hydroelectricity, and thermoelectric power generation. Two of the largest reservoirs in the United States, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, are fed by the Colorado and generate hydropower through the (Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams) to major cities. These reservoirs are drying up; the levels are at risk of being too low to produce power. Lake Powell’s water level is at approximately 3, 520 ft (April 23’ projections), and the minimum pool to keep the turbines at the dam running, is 3, 490 ft. This means that, 30-ft of water hangs in the balance of 40 million people that survive on the water and electricity that it produces. Lake Mead, our largest reservoir in the United States, is also threatened. Lake Mead is at 1,045 ft (April 23’ projections by…) and below 1,023 ft, it is classified as a shortage—only a 22-feet  difference. As the precipitation decreases in the western United States, with the lack of snow and an increase of global temperatures, the future of the reservoirs and the Colorado river looks very frightening. Now is the time to make change and sacrifice for the sake of not only mother earth, but for our treasure and sacred natural resource: water.

“We need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds, fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to live” – Prince William

The Colorado Basin consists of seven states and covers 276,000 square miles and flows all the way to Mexico. This basin contributes to the Colorado River, and it is over 1,400 miles long. The basin is divided into two sections, the upper and lower basins. The upper basin includes the states of Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico; the lower basin consists of Arizona, Nevada, California, and Mexico. Since 1880, the earth’s temperature has risen by 2%, which is 0.14 Fahrenheit (0.08 Celsius) per decade (climate.gov). Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Lin and James interviewed experts who claim, the “Colorado River Crisis is so bad, lakes Mead and Powell are unlikely to refill in our lifetime” and that “research has shown that for each additional 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit), the river’s (Colorado) average flow is likely to decrease about 9%.” The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that warmer temperatures have reduced our rain/snow fall due to evaporation. Of course, the southwest gets significantly less precipitation than other parts of the country. The southwest, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), received an average rainfall that is less than 3% of what the area surrounding Atlanta gets. The increase of global temperatures lead to more larger storms and rain, however, the warmer climate causes more rain than snow to fall. Snow is needed for the mountain to melt off in the spring for water supply. According to USGS, around 75% of our water supply in the western United States comes from the snowpacks. These measurements and data only confirm what we have observed to be true about the Colorado River. When precipitation decreases, the drought begins. Two weeks without rain can be detrimental to crops and the land. We may not even know we are in a drought; months to years can accrue without realizing there is a drought condition. The Colorado River has been in a drought for at least 23 years, and likely longer. Now that we have just entered spring, the potential for the rain to fall can be good for the river, and there is still a significant amount of snow on the mountains that feed into the Colorado River. A better calculation of these precipitation results will come a few months later. But once spring ends, the summer begins. Lin and James state, “Now the water use is maxed out. Every state is taking too much, and we have to cut back. And so there’s just not enough. You would need wet year after wet year, after wet year after wet year, after wet year.”

 “The Earth is my mother, and on her bosom I shall repose.” -Tecumseh

Where and how is the Colorado River used and wasted? The upper basin uses 59% for hydroelectric power, 30 % for irrigation, 6% inter basin transfer, 3% wastewater returns, 1% public supply, and 1% thermoelectric. For the lower basin, 69% hydroelectric, 13% irrigation, 10% inter basin transfer, 4% public supply, 2% wastewater returns, 1% commercial, and 1% thermoelectric. The Bureau of Reclamation states the Colorado compacts of 1922 allows seven states to use 7,500,000 acre-feet of the Colorado River, but they do not state how the water is to be divided among the basins. By 1948, five states: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming submitted an Upper Colorado River basin compact designed to designate how much water is promised to each state in the upper basin.