Who’s taking America’s Water?

This is an open message to Climate Town; the creators of this video.

I found the video to be very interesting, but I think a glaring aspect of this catastrophe was missed.  

The video concludes:

I was saddened by a couple of misrepresentations given in the video around [28:20]

1. “… rather than reward conservation we’re incentivizing Farmers to use all the water they possibly can…”
2. “Our available river water is decreasing due to climate change…”

Rather than reward conservation we’re incentivizing Farmers to use all the water they possibly can. Where this statement is placed in the video leads one to believe that these farmers must pump aquifer water or lose the right to next year’s allotment. If investigated, it might be more accurately stated that those who must use all the water or lose the next year’s allotment are those directly using Colorado River water. So, this activity is not directly depleting the aquifers. It could indirectly affect the aquifers by reducing the free-flowing water to the lower basin farmers.  

Available Colorado River water is decreasing due to Climate Change. This can be seen as a misrepresentation when it is understood that the available Colorado River water is decreasing due to climate-change, but not Climate-Change. I know that is a bit confusing. Let me explain…

When we speak of Climate-Change, we are usually talking about Global-Climate-Change. But there is micro-climate-change occurring in many places. It is one specific micro-climate-change which is the root of the mega-drought. Humans did cause this micro-climate-change, and I think humans can repair the problem they caused.

Here is what happened. Starting around 1940 humans began exporting massive amounts of freshwater out of the Colorado River Watershed.

There is an unwritten natural law which states that: “Removing large quantities of freshwater from its watershed will create unintended consequences; usually negative.”

The negative unintended consequences occurred. The first was that the Colorado River ceased to flow to the ocean. Its flow ended just before the water entered the Colorado River Delta; 60-miles north of the ocean. The lack of water in the delta, over the last 90+ years changed the Colorado River Delta from a 3,000 sq-mi, verdant, wet-land into a 3,000 sq-mi, dry desert. This micro-climate-change broke one of the water cycles which feeds the Colorado River. I say ‘one of’ because the Colorado River is fed by multiple water cycles, so the river still flows, but its flow rate is diminished.

The Colorado Mountains supplies the moisture which begins 158 named rivers. Because of the loss of this one water cycle, all the rivers have a decreased flow. The Colorado River is our focus because this is where the water cycle was broken and because the reduced flow impacts approximately 40-million people. Repairing this water cycle will return full flow to all these 158 named rivers, which includes the Colorado River.

Obviously not all 158 rivers are displayed in the above map. Notice two well-known rivers which start here: Colorado and Rio Grande. Both rivers are experiencing diminished flow rates due to the broken water cycle, and both will benefit once it is repaired.

The broken water cycle used to collect moisture over the river delta and carry it north. The water cycle was: Colorado River Delta > Laguna Salada, Baja, MX (officially part of the delta) > Salton Sea, CA, US > Great Basin, USA > Great Salt Lake, UT, USA (officially part of the Great Basin) > Colorado Mountains, CO, USA > Colorado River > Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX.

Laguna Salada was the last piece of the delta to fully dry and completed the breakage of the water cycle. In 2000, domino-droughts moved north and east and coalesced into the mega-drought. Now as the video says [17:37] “One study from UCLA found that … this may … be aridification.” And [18:08] “…aridification means the area will be permanently drier with less water available…”

Will conservation help? Conservation is what must be done; until the problem is repaired. Conservation will not solve the problem.

How to replace/repair the water-cycle? To replace the lost moisture input, we must replicate the lost water cycle. But can man replicate a water cycle? This sounds like a big task, nigh on to impossible. Well, if man can break it, he should be able to fix it. People are making plans for terraforming Mars; maybe we should run a test project here on earth first?

Yes, this water cycle can be replicated. There is a plan, it is fundable, it is simple, and it utilizes natural processes for the bulk of its operation.

The core of the plan is to move oceanwater into the Great Basin, anyplace within the Great Basin, and let natural processes carry the moisture to the Colorado Mountains. Just enough ocean water needs to be brought in. Too much will cause flooding in Salt Lake City, so the water level of the Great Salt Lake is the gauge for how much water to input into the Great Basin.

To replace the broken water cycle, it may be best to replicate the original moisture path.

Here is the path:

• Gulf of California > Laguna Salada. The Coyote Canal, Baja, MX exists but it is dry, and it is designed to flow into the ocean.  Reverse the flow of this 60-mile-long canal so it flows from the Gulf of California into Laguna Salada.
• Laguna Salada > Salton Sea. Extend the Coyote Canal so it flows into the Salton Sea. This a 60-mile-long extension must pass through a 150-foot hill. The flow must be metered, so the level of the Salton Sea can be maintained at an optimum level.
• Salton Sea > Great Basin. This is a pumping operation, but I do not see another way. The rise is less than 2,500 feet and the distance is about 200 miles.
• Great Basin > Colorado Mountains. This is all natural processes. This is exactly how the previous water cycle operated within the Great Basin, so there is no change from historical norms with this infusion of oceanwater.

There will be more benefits of repairing the water cycle than  I can list, but here are some.

1. The oceanwater flowing through the delta region will infuse moisture into that area. The increased moisture will encourage flora and fauna to return and thrive. The path of the Coyote Canal can be modified to allow for a longer canal, so the moisture has more time within the delta to evaporate and join the atmospheric water cycle.
2. The refilling of Laguna Salada will return the fishing opportunity to the indigenous people who own the land. The infusion of oceanwater into Laguna Salada will cause no harm. Laguna Salada is Spanish for Salt Marsh, so putting salty water there is not a problem. Also, Laguna Salada has occasional oceanwater infusion because of tides, so salt water is already being deposited there; it is just that the tides do not occur enough to keep Laguna Salada full.
3. The infusion of oceanwater into the Salton Sea will lower the current hyper-saline content of the sea.
4. Pumping the agriculture-polluted, hyper-saline water out of the Salton Sea will help the Salton Sea return to a stable and usable body inland sea.
5. The saltwater pumped into the Great Basin will replace the moisture formerly carried by the water cycle, thus returning the Great Basin to its previous normal environment.
6. The mega-drought will end, and the wild-fire risks will be diminished.
7. The Colorado Mountains will receive enough moisture to return all 158 rivers to their full flows.
8. Returning the Rio Grande River (which begins in the Colorado Mountains) to its full flow will reinforce the USA/MX border.  
9. The whole operation opens multiple points for human activity and commercial opportunities.

There are some challenges and consequences in this plan.

1. Because this operation spans multiple US states, it must be coordinated by the US government. Fortunately, the government already has an agency in place: The US Bureau of Reclamation. This type of project is fully within their scope of operation. 
2. The cost of constructing, operating, and maintaining the pumping project is considerable, but it can be collected from a water-use fee imposed on those who broke the water cycle, the users of Colorado River water who move water out of the watershed.
3. Flash floods may occur from increased rainfall, but as the land turns green, the problem with these will diminish. Plus, the people living in flash flood prone areas already have these floods and know how to live around them.  

Proponent.

Move the Water! is the proposed initiative of Active Climate Rescue Initiative. Active Climate Rescue Initiative is founded to actively rescue our climate by encouraging positive climate change through water relocation into earth’s water deficit areas. Anyplace in the world where there is a dry depression is a place where there is a moisture deficit. These places are the key to reversing climate change. By infusing these places with water from an open flow inlet, moisture can be reintroduced into the local environment through hydrologic processes. Active Climate Rescue Initiative is a Michigan Non-Profit Corporation approved by the USA IRS as a 501.c.3 Public Charity.

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