Sucking California dry. (Earth/Watersheds).If nature had its way, the Colorado River Colorado River River, south-central Argentina. Its major headstreams, the Grande and Barrancas rivers, flow southward from the Andes Mountains and meet to form the Colorado near the Chilean border. It flows southeastward across northern Patagonia and the southern Pampas. would flow 2,300 kilometers 1,400 miles) southwest from the Rocky Mountains Rocky Mountains, major mountain system of W North America and easternmost belt of the North American cordillera, extending more than 3,000 mi (4,800 km) from central N.Mex. to NW Alaska; Mt. Elbert (14,431 ft/4,399 m) in Colorado is the highest peak. to the Gulf of California Noun 1. Gulf of California - a gulf to the west of the mainland of Mexico Sea of Cortes Mexico, United Mexican States - a republic in southern North America; became independent from Spain in 1810 . But currently the river often runs dry before reaching the sea. Why? The booming Southwest sucks up nearly every drop. In 1922, seven states--Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California--divided the river's water supply into shares, or allotments. "For years, California `borrowed' the leftover allotments of Arizona and Nevada," says Pamela Hyde of the advocacy group Southwest Rivers. "Now Arizona and Nevada need that water." So in January the U.S. government ordered California to stop guzzling more than its share. The Colorado River watershed drains all rain and melting snow from an area that covers about one-twelfth of the continental U.S. (see map, above). As the river courses through the arid Southwest--with typically less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of annual rainfall--its water is siphoned off to slake the thirst of the region's burgeoning cities and to grow crops. "Colorado River water is the lifeblood" of California's agricultural Imperial Valley, says Khaled Bali of the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). at Davis. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Since the U.S. government cut off the flow of extra water to California, residents of the state have no choice but to use less water and share what's left. "We have more people out here than we have water for," says Hyde. "We can't afford to waste water anymore." State officials are also scrambling for new water sources. One possibility: the Pacific Ocean. At a proposed desalination desalination or desalting Removal of dissolved salts from seawater and from the salty waters of inland seas, highly mineralized groundwaters, and municipal wastewaters. plant in San Diego County, seawater seawater Water that makes up the oceans and seas. Seawater is a complex mixture of 96.5% water, 2.5% salts, and small amounts of other substances. Much of the world's magnesium is recovered from seawater, as are large quantities of bromine. filtered to remove the salt could provide up to 50 million gallons of drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. a day. DAILY FRESHWATER USE IN THE U.S. BY CATEGORY How many gallons were used per day? POWER GENERATION 132 Bgal/day 39% LOCAL WATER DEPTS. 40.2 Bgal/day 12% HOUSEHOLD 3.4 Bgal/day 1% IRRIGATION 134 Bgal/day 39% COMMERCIAL 2.9 Bgal/day 1% INDUSTRY-MINING 23.3 Bgal/day 7% LIVESTOCK 5.5 Bgal/day 1% * BGAL/DAY = BILLION OF GALLONS OF WATER USED PER DAY Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division, 1995 Note: Table made from pie graph. |
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