The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation projects declining water levels for Lake Mead and Lake Powell, attributed to reduced flow in the Colorado River due to diminished snowpack from drought. Experts emphasize that the core issue is over-extraction of freshwater. Proposed solutions include halting water withdrawal and restoring the hydrologic cycle.
Lake Powell’s and Lake Mead’s New Water Level Projections Released, by Jess Thomson, Science Reporter on: Aug 19, 2024.
Article Overview
According to this Newsweek article by Jess Thomson, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has forecast the 2025 water levels for Lake Mead and Lake Powell. In a nutshell, they are getting lower and approaching dead-pool. Within the article, quotations from: Robert Glennon; Zach Franlkel; Eric Balken; and Camille Calimlim Touton, all experts on the river, all bemoan the lower levels, and none offer any hope of reversal.
None of the experts nor the author is seeing the big picture. None of them have any hope because they do not understand the root cause of the receding water levels. Oh, they think they do, but they have not looked deep enough to see the real problem. What they see are secondary results of the underlying cause, the root cause. So, let’s look for the real reason, the underlying thing which is causing Lake Mead to dry up.
Root Cause
Let’s first understand the problem. Let’s think out of the box for a minute.
Lake Mead, and the other reservoirs along the Colorado River are going dry because the Colorado River’s flow has diminished.
Colorado River’s flow is less, as is the flow of the other 157 rivers originating from the Colorado mountains, since 2000 because the Colorado mountain snowpack has been less.
Colorado mountain snowpack has been less during the mega-drought.
Mega-Drought began in 2000 in the SW-USA because of domino droughts throughout the SW-USA.
Domino-Droughts began with one drought in the Colorado River Delta.
Colorado River Delta was a 3,000 sq-mi, lush, green wetland but began losing its water in 1936. It went completely dry in 1999, because the Colorado River became dry 60-miles before the ocean. This former delta is now a 3,000 sq-mi, dry, desolate desert.
Colorado River no longer flows into its delta because all the water is being extracted from the river for human use, much of it being exported out of its watershed.
Unwritten Law.
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 Colorado River dry, leaving no moisture for the delta is a problem. We have taken too much from nature. We have not respected the resource. We broke a hydrologic cycle.
Let’s fix the problem.
There are two ways to fix the problem.
1. Stop taking freshwater out of the watershed.
I do not think this will happen because approximately 40-million people rely on that freshwater for life and livelihood. I think they would complain. Their freshwater could be replaced by desalination, but this is massively expensive and has some environmental concerns. Freshwater is available and apparently plentiful in adjacent watersheds; this is also massively expensive and would create additional unintended consequences in those places.
2. Repair the water cycle.
This approach involves developing an alternative water source, utilizes natural processes, and requires some investment into existing technologies and infrastructure. The goal is to replace the lost moisture input. We can replicate the lost water cycle.
Can humans 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. So, yes, humans can fix it, and it is a viable option. The cost of constructing, operating, and maintaining this project is considerable, but it can be collected from a water-use-fee imposed on the users of the Colorado River water as they continue to remove water out of the watershed. They broke the water cycle; it is only logical that they pay to repair it.
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.” An exact fit.
How to replace the hydrologic cycle.
1. Colorado River Delta > Laguna Salada.
The plan begins here, with some agreement from Mexico, the flow of the Coyote Canal will be reversed. The Coyote Canal was installed as an overflow path for Laguna Salada. Today, with Laguna Salada being dry, overflow is not a problem. Refilling Laguna Salada will provide a shallow, warm body of saltwater, with a large surface area, to be an atmosphere moisture generator for the water cycle. By increasing the length of 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.
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, Laguna Salada water salinity will be kept stable near the ocean salinity level.
3. Salton Sea > Great Basin.
The surface level of the Salton Sea can be maintained at its 1950s level by the metered flow of the Coyote Canal. The saltwater entering the Salton Sea will reduce the salinity of the Salton Sea. Over time the salinity and agricultural pollution of the Salton Sea will be reduced by the flowthrough of water into the Great Basin. At the same time the Salton Sea will once again become a place for people to work and play.
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. No human hands are needed for evaporation to remove freshwater into the atmosphere and leave behind the salt and pollutants. The natural processes of the water cycle within the Great Basin will move the 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. One last thing, once the river is returned to full flow, let’s allow a constant flow into the Colorado River Delta, returning to Mother Nature her share.
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.
Help Reverse Climate Change.
Your small donation to Active Climate Rescue Initiative will help reverse Global Warming. Reversing Global Warming and stopping Climate Change is our only goal, and we know how to do it. Your support will allow us to broadcast our message and save the world. Someone must do it. Be part of the someone. Donate today.
The video discussing Lake Mead’s drying does not identify the root cause, blaming mismanagement and climate change instead. The core issue lies in a broken water cycle. The solution is to replicate the hydrologic cycle using strategies outlined by the Active Climate Rescue Initiative.
This video does not live up to its title of The Real Reason Lake Mead Will Dry Up because it does not identify that reason. It lays the blame on several things, and accurately predicts its future as a dust bowl, but it does not identify the real reason Lake Mead will dry up.
The Video Blames.
This video lays the blame on [1:01] “The lack of foresight, and over allocation,” [1:12] “… the mismanagement it faced for nearly a century,… inevitable environmental factors…” [8:01] “… reactive rather than proactive [plans]” and [8:57] “… more intense droughts and higher temperatures due to climate change.” Then, 8-minutes later concludes that [17:02] “Only through collaborative efforts and a commitment to sustainable solutions can we hope to secure the future of Lake Mead….”
What is being blamed are secondary results of the underlying cause, the root cause. So, let’s look for the real reason, the underlying thing which is causing Lake Mead to dry up.
Root Cause
Let’s first understand the problem. Let’s think out of the box for a minute.
Lake Mead, and the other reservoirs along the Colorado River are going dry because the Colorado River’s flow has diminished.
Colorado River’s flow is less, as is the flow of the other 157 rivers originating from the Colorado mountains, since 2000 because the Colorado mountain snowpack has been less.
Colorado mountain snowpack has been less during the Mega-Drought.
Mega-Drought began in 2000 in the SW-USA because of Domino-Droughts throughout the SW-USA.
Domino-Droughts began with one drought in the Colorado River Delta.
Colorado River Delta was a 3,000 sq-mi, lush, green wetland but began losing its water in 1936. It went completely dry in 1999, because the Colorado River became dry 60-miles before the ocean. This former delta is now a 3,000 sq-mi, dry, desolate desert.
Colorado River no longer flows into its delta because all the water is being extracted from the river for human use, much of it being exported out of its watershed.
Unwritten Law.
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 Colorado River dry, leaving no moisture for the delta is a problem. We have taken too much from nature. We have not respected the resource. We broke a hydrologic cycle.
Let’s fix the problem.
There are two ways to fix the problem.
1. Stop taking freshwater out of the watershed.
I do not think this will happen because approximately 40-million people rely on that freshwater for life and livelihood. I think they would complain. Their freshwater could be replaced by desalination, but this is massively expensive and has some environmental concerns. Freshwater is available and apparently plentiful in adjacent watersheds; this is also massively expensive and would create additional unintended consequences in those places.
2. Repair the water cycle.
This approach involves developing an alternative water source, utilizes natural processes, and requires some investment into existing technologies and infrastructure. The goal is to replace the lost moisture input. We can replicate the lost water cycle.
Can humans 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. So, yes, humans can fix it, and it is a viable option. The cost of constructing, operating, and maintaining this project is considerable, but it can be collected from a water-use-fee imposed on the users of the Colorado River water as they continue to remove water out of the watershed. They broke the water cycle; it is only logical that they pay to repair it.
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.” An exact fit.
How to replace the hydrologic cycle.
The above video illustrates how the Coyote Canal can be reenvisioned and reversed.
1. Colorado River Delta > Laguna Salada.
The plan begins here, with some agreement from Mexico, the flow of the Coyote Canal will be reversed. The Coyote Canal was installed as an overflow path for Laguna Salada. Today, with Laguna Salada being dry, overflow is not a problem. Refilling Laguna Salada will provide a shallow, warm body of saltwater, with a large surface area, to be an atmosphere moisture generator for the water cycle. By increasing the length of 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.
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, Laguna Salada water salinity will be kept stable near the ocean salinity level.
3. Salton Sea > Great Basin.
The surface level of the Salton Sea can be maintained at its 1950s level by the metered flow of the Coyote Canal. The saltwater entering the Salton Sea will reduce the salinity of the Salton Sea. Over time the salinity and agricultural pollution of the Salton Sea will be reduced by the flowthrough of water into the Great Basin. At the same time the Salton Sea will once again become a place for people to work and play.
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. No human hands are needed for evaporation to remove freshwater into the atmosphere and leave behind the salt and pollutants. The natural processes of the water cycle within the Great Basin will move the 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. One last thing, once the river is returned to full flow, let’s allow a constant flow into the Colorado River Delta, returning to Mother Nature her share.
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.
Help Reverse Climate Change.
Your small donation to Active Climate Rescue Initiative will help reverse Global Warming. Reversing Global Warming and stopping Climate Change is our only goal, and we know how to do it. Your support will allow us to broadcast our message and save the world. Someone must do it. Be part of the someone. Donate today.
The video discusses the temporary rise in Lake Mead’s water levels due to controlled water releases, highlighting that sustainable water solutions are essential. This blog emphasizes the need to repair the broken hydrologic cycle to restore moisture levels and combat climate change.
When this video was published, [0:00] “Lake Mead’s water levels [were] at their highest levels in 3-years.” This was a result of the [2:36] “… Bureau of Reclamation … releasing a controlled surge of water from Lake Powel over a 4-month period” in 2023. The victory was hollow since they were draining one reservoir to fill another. [3:13] “… It’s crucial to recognize that this is temporary and does not invalidate long-term challenges.” What is needed is [5:27] “… strategies to ensure sustainable water supply for the future.”
The video makes many valid points, but its conclusion that [5:38] “Simply relying on reservoirs like Lake Mead is no longer a viable long-term solution. Water managers and authorities [must] actively [pursue] a new approach that involves developing alternative water sources, promoting efficient usage, and investing into new technologies and infrastructure.” Below is one such new approach.
The Problem.
To understand this new approach, lets first understand the problem. Shouted from every outlet, the blame is placed on Global-Climate-Change. This worldwide problem is such a large problem that it is easy to lay all the blame on it. They are blinded, and do not think to seek an alternative other than multiple forms of conservation. Let’s think out of the box for a minute.
Lake Mead and the other reservoirs along the Colorado River are going dry because the river’s flow has diminished.
Colorado River’s flow is less, as is the flow of the other 157 rivers originating from the Colorado mountains, since 2000 because the Colorado mountain snowpack has been less.
Colorado mountain snowpack has been less during the mega-drought.
Mega-Drought began in 2000 in the SW-USA because of domino droughts throughout the SW-USA.
Domino-Droughts began over the Colorado River Delta because this 3,000 sq-mi wetland began losing its water in 1936. It went completely dry in 1999, because the Colorado River became dry 60-miles before the ocean. This former delta is now a 3,000 sq-mi desolate desert.
Colorado River Delta no longer receives water from the Colorado River because all the water is being extracted from the river for human use, much of it being exported out of its watershed. 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. We have not respected the resource. Mother Nature has imposed her punishment. We are reaping the unintended consequences.
Let’s fix the problem.
There are two ways to fix the problem.
1. Stop taking freshwater out of the watershed.
I do not think this will happen because approximately 40-million people rely on that freshwater for life and livelihood. I think they would complain. To replace this freshwater from alternate sources would be massively expensive.
2. Repair the water cycle.
This new approach involves developing an alternative water source, utilizes natural processes, but requires some investment into existing technologies and infrastructure. We must replace the lost moisture input. We must replicate the lost water cycle.
Can humans 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. So, yes, humans can fix it, and it is a viable option. The cost of constructing, operating, and maintaining this project is considerable, but it can be collected from a water-use-fee imposed on the users of the Colorado River water as they continue to move water out of the watershed. They broke the water cycle, it is only logical that they pay to repair it.
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.”
How to replace the hydrologic cycle.
1. Colorado River Delta > Laguna Salada.
The plan begins here, with some agreement from Mexico, the flow of the Coyote Canal will be reversed. The Coyote Canal was installed as an overflow path for Laguna Salada. Today, with Laguna Salada being dry, overflow is not a problem. Refilling Laguna Salada will provide a shallow, warm body of saltwater, with a large surface area, to be an atmosphere moisture generator for the water cycle. By increasing the length of 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.
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, Laguna Salada water salinity will be kept stable near the ocean salinity level.
3. Salton Sea > Great Basin.
The surface level of the Salton Sea can be maintained at its 1950s level by the metered flow of the Coyote Canal. The saltwater entering the Salton Sea will reduce the salinity of the Salton Sea. Over time the salinity and agricultural pollution of the Salton Sea will be reduced by the flowthrough of water into the Great Basin. At the same time the Salton Sea will once again become a place for people to work and play.
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. No human hands are needed for evaporation to remove freshwater into the atmosphere and leave behind the salt and pollutants. The natural processes of the water cycle within the Great Basin will move the 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.
[5:54] “While the recent rise in water levels at Lake Mead has provided temporary relief, the harsh reality is that the Colorado River Basin remains challenged.” 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. One last thing, once the river is returned to full flow, let’s allow a constant flow into the Colorado River Delta, returning to Mother Nature her share.
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.
Help Reverse Climate Change.
Your small donation to Active Climate Rescue Initiative will help reverse Global Warming. Reversing Global Warming and stopping Climate Change is our only goal, and we know how to do it. Your support will allow us to broadcast our message and save the world. Someone must do it. Be part of the someone. Donate today.
The video discusses California’s extreme drought and flooding paradox. This blog highlights the diminishing snowpack from the Sierra Nevada and the impact of over-extraction from the Colorado River as drivers of the problem. It proposes restoring the hydrologic cycle by managing water flow between key regions to replenish the lost snowpack.
The video discusses California’s extreme drought and flooding paradox. This blog highlights the diminishing snowpack from the Sierra Nevada and the impact of over-extraction from the Colorado River as drivers of the problem. It proposes restoring the hydrologic cycle by managing water flow between key regions to replenish the lost snowpack.
This video reports that [0:50] “Scientists found … that the extreme drought in the Western US [was] the driest 22-year stretch in the last 1200 years.” Yet [2:02] “Over the past 25 years all 58 counties in California have experienced at least one major flood…” So the video asks: [2:02] “How could drought happen alongside floods…?”
California gets its water from two sources. Water comes off the Pacific Ocean in the form of rain and water comes from the mountains in the form of snow.
Pacific Ocean.
Some of the moisture flows from the west, from the Pacific Ocean. This moisture is variable on the ocean conditions of La Nina and El Niño. [3:16] “Most of the water from the numerous rains flows back into the Pacific Ocean without any obstacles.” Nothing has changed here. La Nina and El Niño have all been constant and somewhat predictable for recorded history. The mega-drought seems to have no effect on these weather patterns.
Seria Nevada Mountains.
The video acknowledges that California [3:16] “… relies on the snow cover every winter. It’s what replenishes the surface water, streams, and lakes.” Half of the state’s precipitation falls between December and February and forms a huge snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains. This is time-release water, but over the past several decades, the West’s mountain snowpack has been shrinking. About 23% has disappeared since 1955. Yet, not much else about the loss of the snowpack is questioned. This is where the video missed a grand opportunity to highlight a solution.
Let’s look for the root cause.
Source of the Snow.
The snowpack in the Seria Nevada mountains originates from at least two hydrologic cycles. The first flowing off the Pacific Ocean, which we have noted, still follows its predictable pattern. The second hydrologic cycle comes from the south, up from the Gulf of California, right out of the mega-drought zone. We can assume that this second water cycle is diminished, which has caused the snowpack to diminish.
Gulf of California
The moisture which flows from the south, from the Gulf of California, has been diminishing and is predictability less than in previous years. The mega-drought has dried up the moisture along this areal water path, which can account for the snowpack loss of 23% that disappeared since 1955.
But is the mega-drought the cause or the symptom?
Southern Water Cycle.
Hydrologic Cycles are complicated things. The moisture they carry is literally blown by the winds. Yet there are patterns and predictability which can be observed over the years. Here is the southern water cycle as we understand it: 1. Gulf or California, MX > 2. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX > 3. Laguna Salada, Baja, MX > 4. Salton Sea, CA, USA > 5. Seria Nevada Mountains, CA, USA > 6. Great Basin, USA > 7. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA > 8. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA > 9. Colorado River, USA & MX > 10. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX. >
This is much more than just California. It affects the whole of SW-USA. Let’s take a closer look.
Dissecting the hydrologic cycle.
1. Gulf of California, MX.
The north end of this body of ocean water lies between two mountain ranges, which focus the prevailing winds to the north. The warm air off the gulf carries moisture 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.
Since 1939 the Colorado River has mostly stopped flowing to the sea. This occurred for two reasons, one temporary and one which has been constant since 1939. The temporary one began in 1935 and lasted for 6 years while the Hoover Dam was being filled, creating Lake Mead. Compounding the drain on the river resources, in 1939 the Colorado River Aqueduct opened and began transporting massive amounts of water to Southern California. For 80+ years massive amounts of freshwater have 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. Combined they remove approximately 1.5-million-acrefeet of freshwater each year. This water export, combined with the other uses for the Colorado River water means that the delta receives no water.
Enter Local-Climate-Change.
Today the Colorado River Delta is dry. The river’s flow ends just before the water enters the Colorado River Delta, 60-miles north of the Gulf of California. The lack of water in the delta, over the last 80+ years has changed the Colorado River Delta from a 3,000-sq-mi, verdant, wet-land into a 3,000-sq-mi, brown dry desert. The delta’s features of large wet surface area, sunny hot atmospheric temperatures, strong northerly winds, and thirsty air, used to add large amounts of moisture into the atmosphere; into the hydrologic cycle. This local-climate-change has reduced the moisture fed into the hydrologic cycle, thus the water cycle has less water to carry northeast.
3. Laguna Salada, Baja, MX.
Technically Laguna Salada is in the Colorado River Delta, but this inland sea is/was a significant water feature, so it deserves its own mention. Laguna Salada was the last part of the delta to become desert, which it did in 1999. Thus, the water cycle has less water to carry northeast. Is it a coincidence that the mega-drought began in 2000?
4. Salton Sea, CA, USA.
The Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when water from the Colorado River accidentally flowed into the Salton Basin due to a breach in an irrigation canal. In the 1950s, the Salton Sea was a thriving tourist destination, often referred to as a desert oasis. The surface level of the Salton Sea began to diminish significantly in the 1970s and began to experience significant environmental. The reduced surface level contributed less moisture into the water cycle thus the water cycle has less water to carry north.
5. Seria Nevada Mountains, CA, USA.
Consider this a branch of the hydrologic cycle delivering moisture to the Seria Nevada Mountains. The reduced snowpack may be a direct result of the diminishment in the southern water cycle.
6. Great Basin, USA.
The Great Basin is an interesting feature of the SW-USA. It is a watershed with no outlet, thus a basin. The Great Basin is large; it encroaches on 8 US States. 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 is an arid land, so where did the water come from? Moisture from the west is blocked by mountains and 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 30 years.
7. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA.
The Great Salt Lake 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 lays 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. As the lake surface diminishes, the amount of moisture sent northeast also diminishes, which means less snow for the Colorado Mountains.
8. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA.
The Colorado Mountains supplies the moisture which begin 158 named rivers. It is apparent that the flow of all these rivers has diminished in the past couple of decades. The common cry is that it Global-Climate-Change is the root cause. This video blames the mega-drought, but is the mega-drought the cause or the symptom?
9. 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.
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 mega-drought is the unintended consequence.
The review of the data shows that the most likely cause of the mega-drought is the overuse of the Colorado River freshwater leaving its delta a desert and thus breaking the water cycle. So, can this be fixed?
Let’s fix the problem.
There are two ways to fix the problem.
1. Stop taking freshwater out of the watershed.
I do not think this will happen because approximately 40-million people rely on that freshwater for life and livelihood. I think they would complain. To replace this freshwater from alternate sources would be massively expensive.
2. Repair the water cycle.
To replace the lost moisture input, we must replicate the lost water cycle. Can humans 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. Yes, humans can fix it, and it is a viable option. The cost of constructing, operating, and maintaining this 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, as they continue to move water out of the watershed.
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.”
The plan to replace the hydrologic cycle.
1. Colorado River Delta > Laguna Salada.
The plan begins here, with some agreement from Mexico, the flow of the Coyote Canal will be reversed. The Coyote Canal was installed as an overflow path for Laguna Salada. Today, with Laguna Salada being dry, overflow is not a problem. Refilling Laguna Salada will provide a shallow, warm body of saltwater, with a large surface area, to be an atmosphere moisture generator for the water cycle. By increasing the length of 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.
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, Laguna Salada water salinity will be kept stable near the ocean salinity level.
3. Salton Sea > Great Basin.
The surface level of the Salton Sea can be maintained at its 1950s level by the metered flow of the Coyote Canal. The saltwater entering the Salton Sea will reduce the salinity of the Salton Sea. Over time the salinity and agricultural pollution of the Salton Sea will be reduced by the flowthrough of water into the Great Basin. At the same time the Salton Sea will once again become a place for people to work and play.
At this point we consider that the increased moisture in the Colorado River Delta, the refilled Laguan Salada, and increased surface level of Salton Sea will return some moisture in this hydrologic cycle. Some of this will be directed toward the Seria Nevada mountains. Hopefully enough to return the snowpack to its pre-1955 normal. Predicting water cycle activity is difficult because of the many factors involved; regardless, by returning the moisture, some improvement will occur, and some is better than none.
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. No human hands are needed for evaporation to remove freshwater into the atmosphere and leave behind the salt and pollutants. The natural processes of the water cycle within the Great Basin will move the 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.
Adding infrastructure to California will not solve the root problem. 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. One last thing, once the river is returned to full flow, let’s allow a constant flow into the Colorado River Delta, returning to Mother Nature her share.
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.
Help Reverse Climate Change.
Your small donation to Active Climate Rescue Initiative will help reverse Global Warming. Reversing Global Warming and stopping Climate Change is our only goal, and we know how to do it. Your support will allow us to broadcast our message and save the world. Someone must do it. Be part of the someone. Donate today.
This blog critiques a video which discusses a 22-year mega-drought affecting the West Coast, attributing it to changes in snowpack and artificial reservoirs. While it suggests adaptive strategies, it lacks deeper analysis of root causes like water over-extraction from the Colorado River. A proposal is presented to repair the hydrologic cycle through water redistribution.
It is known that droughts have domino effects creating domino droughts which in this case has caused a mega-drought. This video predicts that the mega-drought will also have a domino effect of aridification and offers no hope. Just live with it. This blog article disagrees and points out the way to stop the mega-drought and return to our old normal.
The Domino Effect of America’s Megadrought presented by Bloomberg Originals and narrated by Kal Penn.
The video reports that [0:04] a 22+ year mega-drought is in place, yet [2:34] “we do have options.” It suggests [2:43] building more reservoirs, [2:57] desalination plants, and [3:26] conserving more. The video concludes that: [3:43] “The West Coast’s entire system to capture, store and distribute water was built on a different planet, a planet with predictable rainfall and snowpacks.”
[3:43] “That’s not the planet we live on anymore.”
Something has changed, but it is not the scientific weather prediction principles. The extensive [3:43] “system to capture, store and distribute water” has damaged the previous ecological balance. This change has altered the timeframe used to make these predictions, and the new predictions are dire. The video predicts that this mega-drought [4:00] “isn’t a temporary emergency. It’s a new normal.”
The previous ecological system is damaged.
The video reports change in two areas: A reduced snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains; and artificial reservoirs, like Lake Mead and Lake Powell, drying up. The video blames the mega-drought for both these changes.
It’s a mega-drought, we are doomed!
The video just accepts the mega-drought. It does not look deeper to try to see its origin. But instead, just accepting Global-Climate-Change as the prime actor in this mega-drought, let us do a root cause analysis. Let us look deeper.
Let it Snow!
The video says [0:54] “California’s biggest problem isn’t rain. It’s snow.” [1:04] “Half of the state’s precipitation falls between December and February and forms a huge snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains.” [1:27] “But over the past several decades, the West’s mountain snowpack has been shrinking. 23% has disappeared since 1955, and by the end of the century, it could lose as much as 79%.”
Source of the Snow.
Where do the Sierra Nevada mountains get their snow? The snow arrives from two directions.
1. Pacific Ocean.
Some of the moisture flows from the west, from the Pacific Ocean. This moisture is variable on the ocean conditions of La Nina and El Niño. That moisture is diminished by the Rain-Shadow effect, which strips much of the moisture out of the air, as it crosses the coastal mountain ranges, before it arrives at the Sierra Nevada mountains. Nothing has changed here. La Nina, El Niño, and the Rain-Shadow effect have all been constant and somewhat predictable for recorded history. The mega-drought seems to have no effect on these weather patterns.
2. Gulf of California
Some of the moisture flows from the south, from the Gulf of California. This moisture has been diminishing and is predictability less than in previous years. The mega-drought has dried up the moisture along this areal water path which can account for the snowpack loss of [1:27] “23% [that] has disappeared since 1955.” But is the mega-drought the cause or the symptom?
Lake Mead and Lake Powell drying up.
It is disastrous that Lake Mead and Lake Powell are drying up, their surface levels declining since 2000. They could be drying up because of over allocation of the basin resources, but since 2000 massive conservation efforts have been consistent, yet they still have declining levels. We again can blame the mega-drought for the diminishing surface levels, but is the mega-drought the cause or the symptom?
Where does the Colorado River water come from?
Lake Mead and Lake Powell obtain their water from the Colorado River. Reports are rampant that the flow of the Colorado River has diminished. The river originates in the Colorado mountain, along with 157 other named rivers. All have reduced flow rates since 2000. The Colorado mountains collect snow each winter which is the time-release water for the rivers, but the snowpack has been diminishing since 2000. Is the mega-drought the cause or the symptom?
Where does the Colorado mountain snowpack come from?
The snowpack in the Colorado mountains originates from at least two hydrologic cycles. The first from the north, through Canada, and this water cycle appears healthy and unchanged by the mega-drought. The second hydrologic cycle comes from the southeast, up from the Gulf of California, right out of the mega-drought zone. We can assume that this water cycle is diminished, which has caused the snowpack to diminish. We again can blame the mega-drought for the diminishing snowpack, but is the mega-drought the cause or the symptom?
The diminishing snowpack in both the Colorado and Seria Nevada mountains can be seen to be blamed on diminished moisture input from a southern hydrologic water cycle originating over the Gulf of California. It is apparent that this water cycle is delivering less moisture, but why?
The southern water cycle.
The southern 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. Seria Nevada Mountains, CA, USA > 6. Great Basin, USA > 7. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA > 8. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA > 9. Colorado River, USA & MX > 10. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX. >
Dissecting the southern hydrologic cycle.
1. Gulf of California, MX.
The north end of this body of ocean water lies between two mountain ranges, which focus the prevailing winds to the north. The warm air off the gulf carries moisture 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
Since 1939 the Colorado River has mostly stopped flowing to the sea. This occurred for two reasons, one temporary and one which has been constant since 1939. The temporary one began in 1935 and lasted for 6 years while the Hoover Dam was being filled, creating Lake Mead. Compounding the drain on the river resources, in 1939 the Colorado River Aqueduct opened and began transporting massive amounts of water to Southern California. For 80+ years massive amounts of freshwater have 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. Combined they remove approximately 1.5-million-acrefeet of freshwater each year. This is all water which no longer flows into the delta.
Local-Climate-Change.
Today the Colorado River Delta is dry. The river’s flow ends just before the water enters the Colorado River Delta, 60-miles north of the Gulf of California. The lack of water in the delta, over the last 80+ years has changed the Colorado River Delta from a 3,000-sq-mi, verdant, wet-land into a 3,000-sq-mi, brown dry desert. The delta’s features of large wet surface area, sunny hot atmospheric temperatures, strong northerly winds, and thirsty air, used to add large amounts of moisture into the atmosphere; into the hydrologic cycle. This local-climate-change has reduced the moisture fed into the hydrologic cycle, thus the water cycle has less water 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. Laguna Salada was the last part of the delta to become desert, which it did in 1999. Thus, the water cycle has less water to carry northeast. Is it a coincidence that the mega-drought began in 2000?
4. Salton Sea, CA, USA.
The Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when water from the Colorado River accidentally flowed into the Salton Basin due to a breach in an irrigation canal. In the 1950s, the Salton Sea was a thriving tourist destination, often referred to as a desert oasis. The surface level of the Salton Sea began to diminish significantly in the 1970s and began to experience significant environmental. The reduced surface level contributed less moisture into the water cycle thus the water cycle has less water to carry north.
5. Seria Nevada Mountains, CA, USA
Consider this a branch of the hydrologic cycle delivering moisture to the Seria Nevada Mountains. The reduced snowpack may be a direct result of the diminishment in the southern water cycle.
6. Great Basin, USA.
The Great Basin is an interesting feature of the SW-USA. It is a watershed with no outlet, thus a basin. The Great Basin is large; it encroaches on 8 US States. 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 is an arid land, so where did the water come from? Moisture from the west is blocked by mountains and 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 30 years.
7. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA
The Great Salt Lake 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 lays 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. As the lake surface diminishes, the amount of moisture sent northeast also diminishes, which means less snow for the Colorado Mountains.
8. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA.
The Colorado Mountains supplies the moisture which begin 158 named rivers. It is apparent that the flow of all these rivers has diminished in the past couple of decades. The common cry is that it Global-Climate-Change is the root cause. This video blames the mega-drought, but is the mega-drought the cause or the symptom?
9. 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.
1. 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 mega-drought is the unintended consequence.
The review of the data shows that the most likely cause of the mega-drought is the overuse of the Colorado River freshwater leaving its delta a desert and thus breaking the water cycle. So, can this be fixed?
Let’s fix the problem.
There are two ways to fix the problem.
1. Stop taking freshwater out of the watershed.
I do not think this will happen because approximately 40-million people rely on that freshwater for life and livelihood. I think they would complain. To replace this freshwater from alternate sources would be massively expensive.
2. Repair/Replace the water cycle.
To replace the lost moisture input, we must replicate the lost water cycle. Can humans 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. Yes, humans can fix it, and it is a viable option. The cost of constructing, operating, and maintaining this 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, as they continue to move water out of the watershed.
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.”
The plan to replace the hydrologic cycle.
1. Colorado River Delta > Laguna Salada.
The plan begins here, with some agreement from Mexico, the flow of the Coyote Canal will be reversed. The Coyote Canal was installed as an overflow path for Laguna Salada. Today, with Laguna Salada being dry, overflow is not a problem. Refilling Laguna Salada will provide a shallow, warm body of saltwater, with a large surface area, to be an atmosphere moisture generator for the water cycle. By increasing the length of 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.
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, Laguna Salada water salinity will be kept stable near the ocean salinity level.
3. Salton Sea > Great Basin.
The surface level of the Salton Sea can be maintained at its 1950s level by the metered flow of the Coyote Canal. The saltwater entering the Salton Sea will reduce the salinity of the Salton Sea. Over time the salinity and agricultural pollution of the Salton Sea will be reduced by the flowthrough of water into the Great Basin. At the same time the Salton Sea will once again become a place for people to work and play.
A side trip.
At this point we consider that the increased moisture in the Colorado River Delta, the refilled Laguan Salada, and increased surface level of Salton Sea will return some moisture in this hydrologic cycle. Some of this will be directed toward the Seria Nevada mountains. Hopefully enough to return the snowpack to its pre-1955 normal. Predicting water cycle activity is difficult because of the many factors involved; regardless, by returning the moisture, some improvement will occur, and some is better than none.
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. No human hands are needed for evaporation to remove freshwater into the atmosphere and leave behind the salt and pollutants. The natural processes of the water cycle within the Great Basin will move the 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. One last thing, once the river is returned to full flow, let’s allow a constant flow into the Colorado River Delta, returning to Mother Nature her share.
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.
Help Reverse Climate Change.
Your small donation to Active Climate Rescue Initiative will help reverse Global Warming. Reversing Global Warming and stopping Climate Change is our only goal, and we know how to do it. Your support will allow us to broadcast our message and save the world. Someone must do it. Be part of the someone. Donate today.
Californians have conserved over 1.2 million acre-feet of water, yet Lake Mead’s level has decreased by 15 feet since March 2024, highlighting a crisis worsened by climate change. The water cycle’s disruption, particularly in the Colorado River Delta, is causing a decline in river flow, but this can be fixed.
This update applauds an achievement. [0:18] “Californians reliant on the Colorado River have saved over 1.2-million-acrefeet of water in just 2 years, potentially raising Lake Mead’s water levels by an estimated 16 ft.” So why is Lake Mead down 15 ft since MAR-2024?
This video is one in a series of recurring reports on the Lake Mead water surface level. I commend the dedication of Lake Update in reporting these levels over the last year.
[0:18] “Californians… saved over 1.2-million-acrefeet…“
Regardless of this achievement Lake Mead’s water level has been trending downward since MAR-2024; losing 15 ft of water level. [1:39] JB Hamby, Colorado River Commissioner for CA, said: “Lake Mead remains at crisis levels. The reservoir currently sits at 1,061 ft above sea level, 168 ft below its full capacity; holding just under a third of its potential water volume.” Otherwise stated, Lake Mead is 2/3 empty.
Conservation is not enough.
Obviously, conservation is not going to save the day. According to the video [2:18] “The ongoing Mega-Drought driven by Climate-Change has caused the Colorado River basin’s flow to decline by 20% over the last 25 years.” It is at this point where the video missed the mark. While the [2:18] “… Mega-Drought driven by Climate-Change…” is surely an underlying factor, local-climate-change is more of a factor than Global-Climate-Change.
What local-climate-change is the fault?
What is the problem? The problem is that the river flow is diminishing.
Where does the river get its water? The Colorado Mountains, but less snow is being deposited.
Where does the Colorado Mountain snow come from? From air carried moisture.
Where does the air carried moisture come from? It originates in two hydrologic cycles. One from the southwest and one from the northwest.
Broken hydrologic cycle.
Since the mountains are receiving less moisture, are these hydrologic cycles broken? The water cycle from the northwest appears to be stable. The water cycle from the southwest appears to have diminishing moisture. This is demonstrated by the mega-drought. Let us evaluate the southwest water cycle.
The southwest water cycle is: 1. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA > 2. Colorado River > 3. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX. > 4. Laguna Salada, Baja, MX > 5. Salton Sea, CA, USA > 6. Great Basin, USA > 7. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA > 1. Colorado Mountains.
The parts of the southern hydrologic cycle:
1. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA.
The Colorado Mountains supplies the moisture which begin 158 named rivers. It is apparent that the flow of all these rivers has diminished in the past couple of decades. The common cry is that it Global-Climate-Change is the root cause. Everyone blames the easiest target but let’s look deeper.
2. Colorado River, USA & Baja, MX.
According to this video the Colorado River was accredited with [8:43] “… 16-million-acrefeet…” of flow, “… but the river is producing more like 14 or 15 or in recent years, … and sometimes of the projections are showing it could go down to 9-million-acrefeet.” While the reduced flow is causing problems, it is the symptom, not the cause.
3. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX.
The delta is dry. The river’s flow ends just before the water enters the Colorado River Delta. This is 60-miles north of the ocean. The lack of water in the delta, over the last 90+ years has changed the Colorado River Delta from a 3,000-sq-mi, verdant, wet-land into a 3,000-sq-mi, brown dry desert. The delta’s features of large wet surface area, sunny hot atmospheric temperatures, strong northerly winds, and thirsty air, used to add large amounts of moisture into the atmosphere; into the hydrologic cycle. This micro-climate-change has reduced the moisture fed into the hydrologic cycle, thus the water cycle has less water to carry northeast.
4. Laguna Salada, Baja, MX
Laguna Salada is officially part of the Colorado River Delta, but it is also a significant feature in its own right. This inland sea lost its last standing water in 1999; the mega-drought began in 2000. Laguna Salada’s features of warm water, large surface area, shallow depth, sunny hot atmospheric temperatures, strong northerly winds, and thirsty air used to add large amounts of moisture into the atmosphere. The moisture gathered from Lagna Salada was carried north on the strong winds into California’s Central and Imperial valleys, but it no longer contributes to the hydrologic cycle.
5. Salton Sea, CA, US
The Salton Sea was created in 1905 when an irrigation dike was breached. Its existence has been helpful in the water cycle for many years. The Salton Sea was also a wonderful vacation spot in the 1950s, and a favorite place for fish and birds. Being a terminal pool, the salinity in the lake increased to the point where the fish died and the lake stinks. Reduced moisture from the water cycle, and other places is returning the lake to its previous dry condition. The Salton Sea is not providing the same moisture into the hydrologic cycle as it did 40 years ago.
6. Great Basin, USA
The Great Basin is an interesting feature of the SW-USA. It is a watershed with no outlet, thus a basin. The Great Basin is large; it encroaches on 8 US States. 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 is an arid land, so where did the water come from? Moisture from the west is blocked by mountains and 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 30 years.
7. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA
The Great Salt Lake 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 lays 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. As the lake surface diminishes, the amount of moisture sent northeast also diminishes, which means less snow for the Colorado Mountains.
Why did the water cycle break?
It appears that the Colorado River Delta is where the water cycle broke down. This seems to be the root of the problem which is reducing the river flow. There is an unwritten natural law which states that: “Removing large quantities of freshwater from its watershed will create unintended consequences; usually negative.” The dry delta is definitely a negative unintended consequence.
For 90+ years massive amounts of freshwater have 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. Combined they remove approximately 1.5-million-acrefeet of freshwater each year. If only this water could be left to flow into the delta, but it cannot.
So now we have a broken hydrologic cycle; which caused local droughts; which caused the mega drought; which is causing increased local temperatures and wildfires; which is now forecast to be aridification, our new normal.
Let’s fix the problem.
Image of man looking at a convoluted problem and deciding that it is better to fix the problem instead of live with it.
There are two ways to fix the problem.
1. Stop taking freshwater out of the watershed.
I do not think this will happen because approximately 40-million people rely on that freshwater for life and livelihood. I think they would complain. To replace this freshwater from alternate sources would be massively expensive.
2. Repair the water cycle.
To replace the lost moisture input, we must replicate the lost water cycle. Can humans 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. Yes, humans can fix it, and it is a viable option. The cost of constructing, operating, and maintaining this 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, as they continue to move water out of the watershed.
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.”
The plan to replace the hydrologic cycle.
1. Colorado River Delta > Laguna Salada.
The plan begins here, with some agreement from Mexico, the flow of the Coyote Canal will be reversed. The Coyote Canal was installed as an overflow path for Laguna Salada. Today, with Laguna Salada being dry, overflow is not a problem. Refilling Laguna Salada will provide a shallow, warm body of saltwater, with a large surface area, to be an atmosphere moisture generator for the water cycle. By increasing the length of 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.
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, Laguna Salada water salinity will be kept stable near the ocean salinity level.
3. Salton Sea > Great Basin.
The surface level of the Salton Sea can be maintained at its 1950s level by the metered flow of the Coyote Canal. The saltwater entering the Salton Sea will reduce the salinity of the Salton Sea. Over time the salinity and agricultural pollution of the Salton Sea will be reduced by the flowthrough of water into the Great Basin. With the increased lake level and the lower saline level, the Salton Sea will return more moisture into the atmosphere and the water cycle it feeds. At the same time the Salton Sea will once again become a place for people to work and play.
4. Great Basin > Great Salt Lake.
The agriculturally-polluted hyper-saline water pumped into the Great Basin will reside in a currently dry depression, where evaporation will remove freshwater into the atmosphere and leave behind the salt and pollutants. The natural processes of the water cycle within the Great Basin will move the freshwater northeast 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 Colorado River Watershed. Let’s put the US Bureau of Reclamation to work within their assigned mission. One last thing, once the river is returned to full flow, let’s allow a constant flow into the Colorado River Delta, returning to Mother Nature her share.
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.
Help Reverse Climate Change.
Your small donation to Active Climate Rescue Initiative will help reverse Global Warming. Reversing Global Warming and stopping Climate Change is our only goal, and we know how to do it. Your support will allow us to broadcast our message and save the world. Someone must do it. Be part of the someone. Donate today.
The article discusses the Colorado River’s water crisis, highlighting ongoing conflicts between basin states over water allocation. It critiques proposed conservation solutions as inadequate. The root cause, diminished river flow stemming from a broken hydrologic cycle, is identified, with a suggested initiative to restore moisture through strategic water relocation into deficient areas.
As with most of the videos being made about the Colorado River’s water shortage problems, this one misses the root cause and suggests that the only option is conservation. But is it?
Biden Administration Explores Options For Colorado River Water Crisis, presented by Arizonia Horizon PBS.
The Core Video Message.
Conflict over water.
[0:00] “… the Biden administration previewed a set of proposed solutions to the Colorado River’s supply and demand problem,…” The continued reduced flow of the Colorado River is [0:00] “…, an issue that finds lower basin states … increasingly at odds with upper basin states over water allocations.” This is resulting [0:27] “… in a protracted, multi-year, series of negotiations related to coming up with new operating guidelines for the whole Colorado River system. That system produces water that’s shared by seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico.”
No one will be satisfied.
[6:09] “… no one was ever thinking about climate change back in 1922 when the upper basin agreed to deliver 75-million-acrefeet.” There is no doubt that the method of allocating who gets how much water is antiquated and likely unfair, but also that changing it will upset almost everyone.
Five ways, but none are good.
The US Bureau of Reclamation said: [1:51] “… here are the five different ways of operating the system that are going to model.” The options presented do not fix [0:00] “… the Colorado River’s supply-and-demand problem,” they are just methods to manage the ins and outs so everyone gets to give up something, and no one wins. Sarah says: [0:56] “… we need to figure out a way to take less water out of the system. So, we’re … in protracted negotiations over how to share the pain of less … Colorado River water.” With [0:51] “… a hard deadline of the end of 2026 to agree on the new guidelines.”
Make a choice.
That is a dismal message for the 40-million people who have grown to rely on that water for their life and livelihood. The choices are conservation or conservation.
A happier message would be nice.
In the text under the video, AZPBS Now stated: “The Biden administration has said since day one that it was looking to protect the water source.…” If the Biden administration really wished to “protect the water source,” it would do a root cause analysis; learn the reason for the diminishing volume of water; and initiate a solution so the river could return to its historic full potential.
Let us do a Root Cause Analysis.
What is the problem? The problem is that the river flow is diminishing.
Where does the river get its water? The Colorado Mountains, but less snow is being deposited.
Where does the Colorado Mountain snow come from? From air carried moisture.
Where does the airborne moisture originate? It comes from two hydrologic cycles. One from the southwest and one from the northwest.
Are these hydrologic cycles broken? The water cycle from the northwest appears to be stable. The water cycle from the southwest appears to have diminished moisture. This is demonstrated by the mega-drought. Let us evaluate the southwest water cycle.
Broken hydrologic cycle.
The southwest water cycle is: 1. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA > 2. Colorado River > 3. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX. > 4. Laguna Salada, Baja, MX > 5. Salton Sea, CA, USA > 6. Great Basin, USA > 7. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA > 1. Colorado Mountains.
The parts of this hydrologic cycle:
1. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA.
The Colorado Mountains supplies the moisture which begin 158 named rivers. It is apparent that the flow of all these rivers has diminished in the past couple of decades. The common cry is that it Global-Climate-Change is the root cause. Everyone blames the easiest target but let’s look deeper.
2. Colorado River, USA & Baja, MX.
According to this video the Colorado River was accredited with [8:43] “… 16-million-acrefeet…” of flow, “… but the river is producing more like 14 or 15 or in recent years, … and sometimes of the projections are showing it could go down to 9-million-acrefeet.” While the reduced flow is causing problems, it is the symptom, not the cause.
3. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX.
The delta is dry. The river’s flow ends just before the water enters the Colorado River Delta. This is 60-miles north of the ocean. The lack of water in the delta, over the last 90+ years has changed the Colorado River Delta from a 3,000-sq-mi, verdant, wet-land into a 3,000-sq-mi, brown dry desert. The delta’s features of large wet surface area, sunny hot atmospheric temperatures, strong northerly winds, and thirsty air, used to add large amounts of moisture into the atmosphere; into the hydrologic cycle. This micro-climate-change has reduced the moisture fed into the hydrologic cycle, thus the water cycle has less water to carry northeast.
4. Laguna Salada, Baja, MX
Laguna Salada is officially part of the Colorado River Delta, but it is also a significant feature in its own right. This inland sea lost its last standing water in 1999; the mega-drought began in 2000. Laguna Salada’s features of warm water, large surface area, shallow depth, sunny hot atmospheric temperatures, strong northerly winds, and thirsty air used to add large amounts of moisture into the atmosphere. The moisture gathered from Lagna Salada was carried north on the strong winds into California’s Central and Imperial valleys, but it no longer contributes to the hydrologic cycle.
5. Salton Sea, CA, US
The Salton Sea was created in 1905 when an irrigation dike was breached. Its existence has been helpful in the water cycle for many years. The Salton Sea was also a wonderful vacation spot in the 1950s, and a favorite place for fish and birds. Being a terminal pool, the salinity in the lake increased to the point where the fish died and the lake stinks. Reduced moisture from the water cycle, and other places is returning the lake to its previous dry condition. The Salton Sea is not providing the same moisture into the hydrologic cycle as it did 40 years ago.
6. Great Basin, USA
The Great Basin is an interesting feature of the SW-USA. It is a watershed with no outlet, thus a basin. The Great Basin is large; it encroaches on 8 US States. 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 is an arid land, so where did the water come from? Moisture from the west is blocked by mountains and 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 30 years.
7. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA
The Great Salt Lake 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 lays 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. As the lake surface diminishes, the amount of moisture sent northeast also diminishes, which means less snow for the Colorado Mountains.
Why did the water cycle break?
It appears that the Colorado River Delta is where the water cycle broke down. This seems to be the root of the problem which is reducing the river flow. There is an unwritten natural law which states that: “Removing large quantities of freshwater from its watershed will create unintended consequences; usually negative.” The dry delta is definitely a negative unintended consequence.
Some history.
For 90+ years massive amounts of freshwater have 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. Combined they remove approximately 1.5-million-acrefeet of freshwater each year. If only this water could be left to flow into the delta, but it cannot.
Today.
So now we have a broken hydrologic cycle; which caused local droughts; which caused the mega drought; which is causing increased local temperatures and wildfires; which is now forecast to be aridification, our new normal.
Let’s not accept the new normal.
There are two ways to fix the problem.
1. Stop taking freshwater out of the watershed.
I do not think this will happen because approximately 40-million people rely on that freshwater for life and livelihood. I think they would complain. To replace this freshwater from alternate sources would be massively expensive.
2. Repair the water cycle.
To replace the lost moisture input, we must replicate the lost water cycle. Can humans 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. Yes, humans can fix it, and it is a viable option. The cost of constructing, operating, and maintaining this 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, as they continue to move water out of the watershed.
The US Bureau of Reclamation.
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.”
The plan to replace the hydrologic cycle.
1. Colorado River Delta > Laguna Salada.
The plan begins here, with some agreement from Mexico, the flow of the Coyote Canal will be reversed. The Coyote Canal was installed as an overflow path for Laguna Salada. Today, with Laguna Salada being dry, overflow is not a problem. Refilling Laguna Salada will provide a shallow, warm body of saltwater, with a large surface area, to be an atmosphere moisture generator for the water cycle. By increasing the length of 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.
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, Laguna Salada water salinity will be kept stable near the ocean salinity level.
3. Salton Sea > Great Basin.
The surface level of the Salton Sea can be maintained at its 1950s level by the metered flow of the Coyote Canal. The saltwater entering the Salton Sea will reduce the salinity of the Salton Sea. Over time the salinity and agricultural pollution of the Salton Sea will be reduced by the flowthrough of water into the Great Basin. With the increased lake level and the lower saline level, the Salton Sea will return more moisture into the atmosphere and the water cycle it feeds. At the same time the Salton Sea will once again become a place for people to work and play.
4. Great Basin > Great Salt Lake.
The agriculturally-polluted hyper-saline water pumped into the Great Basin will reside in a currently dry depression, where evaporation will remove freshwater into the atmosphere and leave behind the salt and pollutants. The natural processes of the water cycle within the Great Basin will move the freshwater northeast 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 Colorado River Watershed. Let’s put the US Bureau of Reclamation to work within their assigned mission. One last thing, once the river is returned to full flow, let’s allow a constant flow into the Colorado River Delta, returning her share to Mother Nature.
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.
Help Reverse Climate Change.
Your small donation to Active Climate Rescue Initiative will help reverse Global Warming. Reversing Global Warming and stopping Climate Change is our only goal, and we know how to do it. Your support will allow us to broadcast our message and save the world. Someone must do it. Be part of the someone. Donate today.
The video discusses the Water Resource Research Center’s role and the crisis affecting the Colorado River Basin, attributing diminished flow to long-term droughts and overuse. It argues for accepting the new normal and conservating because even this water will go away. The Blog suggests that we reevaluate root causes and proposes restoring hydrologic cycles through strategic water management.
This is an open message to Robert C Robbins; the sponsor/creator of the video.
Robert C Robbins and Sharon Megdal sit and discuss the function of the Water Resource Research Center. Also discussed is their understanding of the Colorado River Basin’s Water Crisis. But a big issue was ignored.
The video summarized:
The first 6 minutes of this video discuss the US Government funded Water Resource Research Center at the University of Arizonia. Beginning at [7:00] the Colorado River is introduced along with some of its problems. At [8:00] it is acknowledged that the Colorado River flow is diminishing largely due to long-term-drought/mega-drought/aridification. At [8:43] “In a nutshell the challenge we get back a new equilibrium.” The video continues to lay out the ways that the situation is doomed and finally concludes that [10:22] “What we need to do is we need to adapt and that means everybody…” [11:01] “… everybody needs to be on deck to do the work.”
Obviously, no hope.
This video envisions no hope for the future of the Colorado River in which it will return to its previous glory. It concludes that only by conservation will we eek out enough water to sustain the existing civilized uses of that water, and yet the video acknowledges that the demand will continue to grow for that precious resource.
The problem wrongly identified.
The video identifies the root cause as the diminished Colorado River flow attributed to the long-term-drought/mega-drought/aridification. This conclusion must be revisited, and a better root cause analysis needs to be considered.
Root Cause Analysis.
What is the problem? The problem is that the river flow is diminishing.
Where does the river get its water? The Colorado Mountains.
Where does the moisture in the Colorado Mountains come from? From air carried moisture.
Where does the air carried moisture come from? It originates in multiple hydrologic cycles. One from the southwest and at least one from the northwest.
Broken hydrologic cycles.
Since the mountains are receiving less moisture, are these hydrologic cycles broken? The water cycle from the northwest appears to be stable. The water cycle from the southwest appears to have diminished moisture. This is demonstrated by the mega-drought. Let us evaluate the southwest water cycle.
The southwest water cycle is: 1. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA > 2. Colorado River > 3. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX. > 4. Laguna Salada, Baja, MX > 5. Salton Sea, CA, USA > 6. Great Basin, USA > 7. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA > 1. Colorado Mountains.
Looking at the parts of this hydrologic cycle:
1. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA.
The Colorado Mountains supplies the moisture which begin 158 named rivers. It is apparent that the flow of all these rivers has diminished in the past couple of decades. The common cry is that it Global-Climate-Change is the root cause. Everyone blames the easiest target but let’s look deeper.
2. Colorado River, USA & Baja, MX.
According to this video the Colorado River was accredited with [8:43] “… 16-million-acrefeet…” of flow, “… but the river is producing more like 14 or 15 or in recent years, … and sometimes of the projections are showing it could go down to 9-million-acrefeet.” While the reduced flow is causing problems, it is the symptom, not the cause.
3. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX.
The delta is dry. The river’s flow ends just before the water enters the Colorado River Delta. This is 60-miles north of the ocean. The lack of water in the delta, over the last 90+ years has changed the Colorado River Delta from a 3,000-sq-mi, verdant, wet-land into a 3,000-sq-mi, brown dry desert. The delta’s features of large wet surface area, sunny hot atmospheric temperatures, strong northerly winds, and thirsty air, used to add large amounts of moisture into the atmosphere; into the hydrologic cycle. This micro-climate-change has reduced the moisture fed into the hydrologic cycle, thus the water cycle has less water to carry northeast.
4. Laguna Salada, Baja, MX
Laguna Salada is officially part of the Colorado River Delta, but it is also a significant feature in its own right. This inland sea lost its last standing water in 1999; the mega-drought began in 2000. Laguna Salada’s features of warm water, large surface area, shallow depth, sunny hot atmospheric temperatures, strong northerly winds, and thirsty air used to add large amounts of moisture into the atmosphere. The moisture gathered from Lagna Salada was carried north on the strong winds into California’s Central and Imperial valleys, but it no longer contributes to the hydrologic cycle.
5. Salton Sea, CA, US
The Salton Sea was created in 1905 when an irrigation dike was breached. Its existence has been helpful in the water cycle for many years. The Salton Sea was also a wonderful vacation spot in the 1950s, and a favorite place for fish and birds. Being a terminal pool, the salinity in the lake increased to the point where the fish died and the lake stinks. Reduced moisture from the water cycle, and other places is returning the lake to its previous dry condition. The Salton Sea is not providing the same moisture into the hydrologic cycle as it did 40 years ago.
6. Great Basin, USA
The Great Basin is an interesting feature of the SW-USA. It is a watershed with no outlet, thus a basin. The Great Basin is large; it encroaches on 8 US States. 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 is an arid land, so where did the water come from? Moisture from the west is blocked by mountains and 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 30 years.
7. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA
The Great Salt Lake 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 lays 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. As the lake surface diminishes, the amount of moisture sent northeast also diminishes, which means less snow for the Colorado Mountains.
Why did the water cycle break?
It appears that the Colorado River Delta is where the water cycle broke down. This seems to be the root of the problem which is reducing the river flow. There is an unwritten natural law which states that: “Removing large quantities of freshwater from its watershed will create unintended consequences; usually negative.” The dry delta is definitely a negative unintended consequence.
For 90+ years massive amounts of freshwater have 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. Combined they remove approximately 1.5-million-acrefeet of freshwater each year. If only this water could be left to flow into the delta, but it cannot.
So now we have a broken hydrologic cycle; which caused local droughts; which caused the mega drought; which is causing increased local temperatures and wildfires; which is now forecast to be aridification, our new normal.
Let’s not accept the new normal. Let’s fix the problem.
There are two ways to fix the problem.
1. Stop taking freshwater out of the watershed.
I do not think this will happen because approximately 40-million people rely on that freshwater for life and livelihood. I think they would complain. To replace this freshwater from alternate sources would be massively expensive.
2. Repair the water cycle.
To replace the lost moisture input, we must replicate the lost water cycle. Can humans 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. Yes, humans can fix it, and it is a viable option. The cost of constructing, operating, and maintaining this 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, as they continue to move water out of the watershed.
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.”
The plan to replace the hydrologic cycle.
1. Colorado River Delta > Laguna Salada.
The plan begins here, with some agreement from Mexico, the flow of the Coyote Canal will be reversed. The Coyote Canal was installed as an overflow path for Laguna Salada. Today, with Laguna Salada being dry, overflow is not a problem. Refilling Laguna Salada will provide a shallow, warm body of saltwater, with a large surface area, to be an atmosphere moisture generator for the water cycle. By increasing the length of 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.
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, Laguna Salada water salinity will be kept stable near the ocean salinity level.
3. Salton Sea > Great Basin.
The surface level of the Salton Sea can be maintained at its 1950s level by the metered flow of the Coyote Canal. The saltwater entering the Salton Sea will reduce the salinity of the Salton Sea. Over time the salinity and agricultural pollution of the Salton Sea will be reduced by the flowthrough of water into the Great Basin. With the increased lake level and the lower saline level, the Salton Sea will return more moisture into the atmosphere and the water cycle it feeds. At the same time the Salton Sea will once again become a place for people to work and play.
4. Great Basin > Great Salt Lake.
The agriculturally-polluted hyper-saline water pumped into the Great Basin will reside in a currently dry depression, where evaporation will remove freshwater into the atmosphere and leave behind the salt and pollutants. The natural processes of the water cycle within the Great Basin will move the freshwater northeast 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 Colorado River Watershed. Let’s put the US Bureau of Reclamation to work within their assigned mission. One last thing, once the river is returned to full flow, let’s allow a constant flow into the Colorado River Delta, returning to Mother Nature her share.
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.
Help Reverse Climate Change.
Your small donation to Active Climate Rescue Initiative will help reverse Global Warming. Reversing Global Warming and stopping Climate Change is our only goal, and we know how to do it. Your support will allow us to broadcast our message and save the world. Someone must do it. Be part of the someone. Donate today.
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:
[0:36] “… the American West [is in] a historic drought…” and…
[1:03] “… no matter how much water they conserve there’s not enough to go around…” and…
[28:20] “… our groundwater is being pumped out faster than it can be replenished…” and…
[36:02] “The one thing from this episode … should be to think … more about how the world uses its water…”
I fully agree with these conclusions.
I was saddened by a couple of misrepresentations given in the video around [28:20]
“… rather than reward conservation we’re incentivizing Farmers to use all the water they possibly can…”
“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.
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.
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.
The infusion of oceanwater into the Salton Sea will lower the current hyper-saline content of the sea.
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.
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.
The mega-drought will end, and the wild-fire risks will be diminished.
The Colorado Mountains will receive enough moisture to return all 158 rivers to their full flows.
Returning the Rio Grande River (which begins in the Colorado Mountains) to its full flow will reinforce the USA/MX border.
The whole operation opens multiple points for human activity and commercial opportunities.
There are some challenges and consequences in this plan.
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.
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.
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.
Help Reverse Climate Change
Your small donation to Active Climate Rescue Initiative will help reverse Global Warming. Reversing Global Warming and stopping Climate Change is our only goal, and we know how to do it. Your support will allow us to broadcast our message and save the world. Someone must do it. Be part of the someone. Donate today.
This blog critiques a video on the Colorado River, highlighting a crucial omission: its decline results from over 90 years of water extraction. It argues for repairing the broken water cycle by introducing ocean water into the Great Basin to restore moisture flow, benefiting the ecosystem and surrounding communities.
This is an open message to PBS Terra and Be Smart; the creators of this video.
This video is very interesting, but a glaring aspect of this catastrophe was missed.
The video concludes that: [12:00] “… a perfect storm of outdated water laws, dams, urban development, nature itself, and … agriculture … killed the Colorado River.”
Yes, these things emptied the river of its water, but did not kill it.
Rather, it was repeated emptying of the river for 90+ years that killed it.
There is an unwritten natural law which states that: “Removing large quantities of freshwater from its watershed will create unintended consequences; usually negative.”
Will conservation help?
The river flow is discussed in terms of a ‘budget’. Every person has a personal financial budget. When unexpected events occur, the budget can be balanced using conservation… for a bit.
For multiple years ‘conservation’ has been the standing order for Colorado River water users. Conservation is a good tool to use when there is a natural cycle in the river’s flow rate, but as the video has proven, the river is broken. Until the river is repaired, conservation must continue, but…
A hydrologic cycle has been broken!
Keeping with the budget scenario. When the tightness in our personal financial budget is caused by the loss of an income stream, then some new income must acquired. The same is true for the river.
The Colorado River is fed by multiple hydrologic water cycles. Because humans withdrew all the water out of the river (for almost 100-years) humans changed the Colorado River Delta from a 3,000 sq-mi, green, verdant, wet-land into a 3,000 sq-mi, brown, dry desert. This ‘climate-change’ has broken one of the water cycles which used to feed the Colorado River.
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 > Colorado Mountains, CO, USA > Colorado River > Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX.
This now broken water cycle was one of several which carried moisture into the Colorado Mountains where 158 named rivers begin. Because of the loss of this one water cycle, all the rivers have a decreased flow. The Colorado River is the focus because this is where the water cycle was broken and because the reduced flow impacts approximately 40-million people. Someone noticed. Repairing this water cycle will return full flow to these 158 named rivers, which includes the Colorado River.
To replace the lost moisture input, to regain the lost income stream, the lost water cycle must replicated. But can humans replicate a water cycle? Well, if humans can break it, humans should be able to fix it. People are making plans for terraforming Mars; maybe people should run a test project here on earth first?
Fortunately, 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.
Fix the water cycle!
The core of the plan is to move oceanwater into the Great Basin, anyplace within the Great Basin; then 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. 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 seems 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. The rise is less than 2,500 feet and the distance is about 200 miles.
Great Basin > Colorado Mountains. This is done via 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 multiple benefits of repairing the water cycle.
The oceanwater flowing through the delta region will infuse moisture into that area. 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.
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.
The infusion of oceanwater into the Salton Sea will lower the current hyper-saline content of the sea.
Pumping the agriculture-polluted, hyper-saline water out of the Salton Sea will help the Salton Sea return to a usable body inland sea.
The saltwater pumped into the Great Basin will replace the moisture previously carried by the water cycle, thus returning the Great Basin to its previous normal environment.
The mega-drought will end, and the wild-fire risks will be diminished.
The Colorado Mountains will receive enough moisture to return all 158 rivers to their full flows.
Returning the Rio Grande River (which begins in the Colorado Mountains) to its full flow will reinforce the USA/MX border.
The whole operation opens multiple points for human activity and commercial opportunities.
Who can do this work?
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.
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.
Conclusion…
The conclusion of the video proposes hope: [15:50] “… with continued effort and cooperation, maybe one day the mighty Colorado River will reach the sea once again.”
Unfortunately, this will take more effort and cooperation than the video envisions. Without repairing the water cycle the river is doomed. Even repairing the water cycle and returning the river to its historic full flow will not cause the river to reach the sea. The human demand for freshwater will continue to drain the Colorado River. Only by repairing the water cycle and with intentional human intervention can a consistent flow be returned into the 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.
Help Reverse Climate Change
Your small donation to Active Climate Rescue Initiative will help reverse Global Warming. Reversing Global Warming and stopping Climate Change is our only goal, and we know how to do it. Your support will allow us to broadcast our message and save the world. Someone must do it. Be part of the someone. Donate today.
