In this article, Alex recounts the popular facts in a nice summary form, which will be useful for the casual observer of the Colorado River crisis, but…
Proposition.
Alex says: “The river is shrinking due to climate change,…” but is this really the root cause? A more likely root cause is the local-climate-change in the Colorado River Delta. Since 1935 the Colorado River has mostly stopped flowing to the sea leaving its delta dry as a bone. The river’s flow ends close to the US-MX border. The lack of water in the delta over the last 80+ years has changed the climate of the Colorado River Delta from a 3,000-sq-mi, verdant, wet-land into a 3,000-sq-mi, dry desert.
Local-Climate-Change
The Colorado River stopped flowing because of over extraction of freshwater from the river. Humans took it all. The ripple effect of this is local-climate-change, with the associated reduction of available freshwater for 40-million people. Before 1935 the Colorado River Delta was a large wetland surface area, in a hot and sunny place, which has strong northerly winds, and dry thirsty air. The delta used to provide vast amounts of moisture into the atmosphere, into a hydrologic cycle. This water cycle carried the moisture to the headwaters of the Colorado River and back to the delta via the river. Today, the 3,000-sq-mi desert adds no moisture into the air. The atmospheric water stream carries less water to the north. The lands north of the delta are starved of moisture and in a mega-drought. The mega-drought inhibits the Great Basin from sending moisture to the Colorado Mountains and the snowpack is reduced. The diminished snowpack provides less water for the Colorado River. Less freshwater in the Colorado River combined with the consistent demand for freshwater is emptying Lake Mead and Lake Powell, and still sending no water into the delta. It is a cycle of despair.
Hydrologic Cycle.
Overly simplified, the this water cycle is: 1. Gulf or California, MX > 2. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX > 3. Laguna Salada, Baja, MX > 4. Salton Sea, CA, USA > 5. Great Basin, USA > 6. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA > 7. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA > 8. Colorado River, USA & MX > 9. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX. >
Dissecting the Water Cycle.
1. Gulf of California, MX.
The warm air over the gulf collects moisture and carries it north over the Colorado River Delta. The mega drought has not caused a change to the Gulf of California.
2. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX
In 1935 the Colorado River Delta began to experience a local-climate-change because the Colorado River ceased flowing to the sea. This occurred for multiple reasons, but two are onerous. During 1935-1941 the Hoover Dam was being filled, creating Lake Mead, blocking the river’s water from the delta. Beginning in 1939 the Colorado River Aqueduct opened and began transporting massive amounts of water to Southern California. For 80+ years approximately 1.5-million-acrefeet, roughly 10%, per year of freshwater has been removed from the Colorado River Watershed to six major cities: Albuquerque, NM; Denver, CO; Los Angeles, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; San Diego, CA; Santa Fe, NM. These diversions along with other draws have removed all freshwater from the Colorado River before it reaches its delta. This local-climate-change has reduced the moisture fed into the hydrologic cycle, thus the water cycle has less moisture to carry northeast.
3. Laguna Salada, Baja, MX.
Technically Laguna Salada is in the Colorado River Delta, but this inland sea is a significant water feature, so it deserves its own mention. In 1999, Laguna Salada was the last part of the delta to become desert. Is it a coincidence that the mega-drought began in 2000?
4. Salton Sea, CA, USA.
The Salton Sea, a terminal inland sea, was formed in 1905 when water from the Colorado River broke free from an irrigation canal and flowed into the Salton Basin. In the 1950s, the Salton Sea was a thriving tourist destination, a desert oasis. The surface level of the Salton Sea began to diminish significantly in the 1970s and the inland sea began to experience significant environmental problems. The reduced surface level is contributing less moisture into the water cycle thus the water cycle has less water to carry north.
5. Great Basin, USA.
The Great Basin is an interesting feature of the SW-USA. It is large and encroaches on 8 US States, thus it is great, and it is a watershed with no outlet, thus it is a basin. It is full of salt deposits; think of the Bonneville Salt Falts and the Great Salt Lake, plus Death Valley is heavily salted. All this salt points to vast quantities of water, but the Great Basin has a moisture deficit. So, where did the water come from? Moisture from the west is blocked by the Rain-Shadow effect. Moisture from the north seems to end up in the Colorado Mountains instead of the Great Basin. The Great Basin receives most of its moisture from the south, but with the dry Colorado River Delta, dry Laguna Salada and shrinking Salton Sea, not much moisture is progressing north. The great Basin has become dryer over the past 40 years.
6. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA
The Great Salt Lake, a terminal inland sea, is officially part of the Great Basin. There are twenty saline lakes within the Great Basin, but the Great Salt Lake gets most of the headlines. It lies in the northeast corner of the Great Basin and its evaporated moisture travels into the Colorado Mountains. In the last decade there have been fears that the Great Salt Lake would turn to dust. The surface level of the Great Salt Lake has been generally diminishing since 1986. As the lake surface diminishes, the amount of moisture sent northeast also diminishes, which means less snowpack for the Colorado Mountains.
7. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA.
The Colorado Mountains supply the moisture which begin 158 named rivers. It is apparent that the flow of all these rivers has been diminishing since at least 1986. The Colorado mountains collect snow each winter, which is the time-release water for the rivers. The decline in snowpack, the reduction of source for the river water accounts for the reduced water inflows for the Colorado River.
8. Colorado River, USA & Baja, MX.
Historically the Colorado River is accredited with 16-million-acrefeet of flow. In recent years the river is providing more like 14 or 15-million-acrefeet of freshwater, and some of the projections are showing it could go down to 9-million-acrefeet. Approximately, 1/3 of the river flow goes to California, 1/3 of the flow goes to Mexico, and the last 1/3 goes to other cities and farming, leaving the river dry 60 miles north of its historic outlet.
9. Back to the delta.
There is an unwritten natural law which states that: “Removing large quantities of freshwater from its watershed will create unintended consequences; usually negative.” Draining the river dry, leaving no moisture for the delta is a problem. We have taken too much from nature and have not respected the resource. The unintended consequences are the: mega-drought; increased wildfire risk; reduced snowpack; shrinking surface levels of the Salton sea, Great Salt Lake, Lake Mead, Lake Powell; reduced flow of the Colorado River
Let’s fix the problem.
There are two ways to fix the problem.
1. Stop taking freshwater out of the watershed.
Since approximately 40-million people rely on that freshwater for life and livelihood. They would protest this solution. Alternates sources of freshwater are massively expensive and bring their own ecological problems.
2. Repair the water cycle.
Without releasing the Colorado River water into the delta, the Colorado River Delta and the water cycle cannot be repaired. An alternative plan is to replace the diminished moisture input by replicating the lost water cycle. This sounds like a big task; nigh on to impossible, but since humans can break it, humans should be able to fix it. The cost of constructing, operating, and maintaining this project is considerable, but not massive. The funds can be collected from a water-use-fee imposed on those who broke the water cycle, the users of Colorado River water as they continue to consume the Colorado River water.
Because this operation spans multiple US States, it must be coordinated by the US Government. Fortunately, the government already has an agency in place for this: The US Bureau of Reclamation. This type of project is fully within their mission: “The mission of the Bureau of Reclamation is to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public.”2
2https://www.usbr.gov/main/about/mission.html
How to replicate the hydrologic cycle.
1. Colorado River Delta > Laguna Salada.
The plan begins with an agreement with Mexico to dredge the Coyote Canal and connect it to the Gulf or California, allowing ocean water to gravity flow into Laguna Salada. The Coyote Canal was installed as a connector between the Colorado River and Laguna Salada. Selecting a new serpentine track for the Coyote Canal, moisture can reach more parts of the desert delta on its way to Laguna Salada, thus providing hydration to more land, and more opportunity to infuse the atmosphere with moisture. Refilling Laguna Salada will provide an atmosphere moisture generator for the water cycle. Laguna Salada is shallow, warm body of saltwater, with a large surface area, situated in a dry air environment, in virtual wind tunnel of air blowing atmosphere moisture northward.
2. Laguna Salada > Salton Sea.
The Coyote Canal can be extended to the Salton Sea. This will be a new 60-mile-long metered-flow canal which must pass through a 150-foot hill. By extending the Coyote Canal past Laguna Salada and into the Salton Sea, it can be refilled to its 1950s surface level. This inflow of ocean water will immediately lower the salinity of the Salton Sea. Increasing the surface level of the Salton Sea will improve its input to the water cycle. The Salton Sea is a shallow, warm body of saltwater, situated in a dry air environment, with a large surface area making moisture available to the hydrologic cycle flowing northward.
3. Salton Sea > Great Basin.
The surface level of the Salton Sea can be increased and maintained at its 1950s level by the metered flow of the Coyote Canal and the pumped outflow into the great Basin. Over time, the salinity and agricultural pollution of the Salton Sea will be reduced by the flowthrough of water into the Great Basin. This will return the Salton Sea into a habitable place for fish, birds, and people.
4. Great Basin > Great Salt Lake.
The Salton Sea water pumped into the Great Basin will reside in a currently dry depression, where natural processes take over. Once the water is placed within the Great Basin, evaporation will infuse freshwater into the atmosphere and leave behind the salt and pollutants. The natural processes of the water cycle within the Great Basin will move freshwater around and deposit it into the Great Salt Lake. The surface level of the Great Salt Lake is the gauge which will determine the amount of water imported into the Great Basin.
5. Great Salt Lake > Colorado Mountains.
No human hands are needed for this part. By returning the moisture into the Great Basin and the Great Salt Lake, the original hydrologic cycle will be restored. The Colorado Mountains will be receiving enough moisture to return full flow to all 158 named rivers originating in those mountains.
Conclusion.
We cannot rob Mother Nature without receiving a punishment. This broken water cycle is our penalty for years of robbing Mother Nature. Let’s not accept the new normal. Let’s resist the aridification of the SW-USA and the Colorado River Watershed. Let’s put the US Bureau of Reclamation to work within their assigned mission. Replacing the hydrologic cycle will return a full snowpack to the Colorado Mountains. One last thing, once the river is returned to full flow, let’s give Mother Nature her share by allowing a constant flow into the Colorado River Delta.
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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