ATTN: Doug Burgum, Secretary, Department of the Interior.
Welcome to your new post. DJT says that with your leadership in this post, “we’re going to do things with energy and with land that is going to be incredible.” I hope we do, but he did not mention ‘water’, which is a bigger problem than energy or land. With your leadership we can do great thing with water.
Water.
“Across many parts … of the arid West[ern] United States, dwindling water supplies, extended droughts, and rising demand are forcing communities, stakeholders, and governments to explore new ideas and find new solutions that will help ensure stable, secure water supplies for future generations.” While “the U.S. Department of the Interior has the experience and expertise to help face these challenges,” and it proclaims it “provides essential science and maps to understand our resources and manages water supplies” (https://www.doi.gov/international/what-we-do/water), it is missing the root causes of the moisture shortage, and by association the remedy.
Root Causes.
There are two intertwined root causes, and unwritten natural rule: “You cannot remove massive amounts of freshwater without unintended consequences, usually negative.”
Root Cause #1.
Overuse of the available freshwater is the first root cause. This includes surface water and ground water. Pumping freshwater from the ground needs to be limited by how fast it can be naturally replenished. Ignoring this results in ground collapse and ultimately is permanent resource depletion. Removing all the freshwater from a river wreaks ecological devastation on the surrounding countryside. Some water must be allowed to flow to its natural terminus. There is a water budget in place, one which we did not divine, but is very active. The amount of water used by humans must not exceed the resource replenishment volume.
Root Cause #2.
As a result of overuse of freshwater, we have damaged a hydrologic cycle. Overly simplified, this water cycle is: 1. Gulf or California, MX > 2. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX > 3. Laguna Salada, Baja, MX > 4. Salton Sea, CA, USA > 5. Great Basin, USA > 6. Great Salt Lake, UT, USA > 7. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA > 8. Colorado River, USA & MX > 9. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX. Let us break down the hydrologic cycle into its geographic regions and see the specific damage caused by this overextraction of freshwater.
1. Gulf or California, MX.
The Sea of Cortex, or alternately the Gulf of California, located completely within Mexico, is itself not part of the problem. It has remained mostly unchanged. It is still providing atmospheric moisture, but much of that moisture is being blocked by the new climate of the Colorado River Delta. The new climate hinders the North American Monsoon and hinders provided atmospheric moisture from traveling north in the subject hydrologic water cycle.
2. Colorado River Delta, Baja, MX.
In 1935 the Colorado River Delta began to experience a local-climate-change because the Colorado River ceased flowing into the sea. 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 featured a large wet surface area, sunny hot atmospheric temperatures, strong northerly winds, and thirsty air which used to add large amounts of moisture into the atmosphere, into the hydrological cycle. Today the Colorado River Delta is dry. This 3,000-sq-mi, brown dry desert has reduced the moisture fed into the hydrologic cycle; thus, the water cycle has less water to carry northeast. This 3,000-sq-mi, brown dry desert has increased the local atmospheric temperature causing a temperature inversion which hinders the North American Monsoon.
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 escaped an irrigation canal and flowed into the Salton Basin. 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 problems. The reduced surface level contributes less moisture into the water cycle thus the water cycle has less water to carry north.
5. Great Basin, USA.
The Great Basin is an interesting feature of the SW-USA. It is a watershed with no outlet, thus a basin. It is large, encroaching on 8 US States, thus it is great. 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.
6. 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 lies in the northeast corner of the Great Basin and its evaporated moisture travels into the Colorado Mountains. In the last decade, during the mega-drought, there have been fears that the Great Salt Lake would turn to dust. As the lake surface diminishes, the amount of moisture sent northeast to the Colorado Mountains also diminishes.
7. Colorado Mountains, CO, USA.
The Colorado Mountains supplies the moisture which seeds 158 named rivers. It is apparent that the flow of all these rivers has diminished in the past few decades. The common cry is that Global-Climate-Change is the root cause. Many blame the mega-drought, but is the mega-drought the cause or the symptom? It seems clear that the reduced moisture coming from the Great Basin is the primary cause for the reduced snowpacks of the last 40 years. This is a symptom of the damaged water cycle.
8. Colorado River, USA & MX.
Historically the Colorado River is accredited with 16-million-acrefeet of flow. In recent years the river is providing only 14 or 15-million-acrefeet of freshwater. Some projections show the flow may be reduced 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. The overdrawn Colorado River ceases to exist 60 miles north of its historic outlet and provides very little water into the delta area. Here the hydrologic cycle has broken.
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 alternative sources would be massively expensive. But let us come to a compromise and take less water out of the Colorado River and allow some to flow into the delta to help revitalize that region.
2. Repair the water cycle.
To replace the lost moisture input, we must replicate the lost water cycle. This sounds like a big task; nearly impossible. Well, if man can break it, he should be able to fix it. Yes, humans can fix it, and there is a viable option which can be implemented, installed, and operated by the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation. 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 Bureau of Reclamation exists, and this type of project is fully within its 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” (https://www.usbr.gov/main/about/mission.html).
How to replicate the hydrologic cycle.
1. Colorado River Delta > Laguna Salada.
The plan begins with an agreement with Mexico to dredge the Coyote Canal and connect it to the Gulf or California, allowing ocean water to gravity flow into Laguna Salada. The Coyote Canal was installed as a connector between the Colorado River and Laguna Salada. Selecting a new serpentine track for the Coyote Canal, moisture can reach more parts of the desert delta on its way to Laguna Salada, thus providing hydration to more land, and more opportunity to infuse the atmosphere with moisture. Refilling Laguna Salada will provide an atmosphere moisture generator for the water cycle. Laguna Salada is a shallow, warm body of saltwater, with a large surface area, situated in a dry air environment, in virtual wind tunnel of air blowing atmosphere moisture northward.
2. Laguna Salada > Salton Sea.
The Coyote Canal can be extended to the Salton Sea. This will be a new 60-mile-long metered-flow canal which must pass through a 150-foot hill. By extending the Coyote Canal past Laguna Salada and into the Salton Sea, it can be refilled to its 1950s surface level. This inflow of ocean water will immediately lower the salinity of the Salton Sea. Increasing the surface level of the Salton Sea will improve its moisture input into the water cycle. The Salton Sea is a shallow, warm body of saltwater, situated in a dry air environment, with the larger surface area making more moisture available to the hydrologic cycle flowing northward.
3. Salton Sea > Great Basin.
The surface level of the Salton Sea can be increased and maintained at its 1950s level by the metered flow of the extended Coyote Canal and the pumped outflow into the great Basin. Over time, the salinity and agricultural pollution of the Salton Sea will be reduced by the flowthrough of water into the Great Basin. This will return the Salton Sea into a habitable place for fish, birds, and people.
4. Great Basin > Great Salt Lake.
The Salton Sea water pumped into the Great Basin will reside in a currently dry depression, where natural processes will take over. Once the water is placed within the Great Basin, evaporation will infuse freshwater into the atmosphere and leave behind the salt and pollutants. The natural processes of the water cycle within the Great Basin will move freshwater around and deposit it into the Great Salt Lake. The surface level of the Great Salt Lake is the gauge which will determine the amount of water imported into the Great Basin.
5. Great Salt Lake > Colorado Mountains.
No human hands are needed for this part. By returning the moisture into the Great Basin and the Great Salt Lake, the original hydrologic cycle will be restored. The Colorado Mountains will be receiving enough moisture to return full flow to all 158 named rivers originating in those mountains.
Conclusion.
We cannot rob Mother Nature without receiving a punishment. This broken water cycle is our penalty for years of robbing Mother Nature. Let’s not accept the new normal. Let’s resist the aridification of the SW-USA and the Colorado River Watershed. Let’s put the US Bureau of Reclamation to work within their assigned mission. Replacing the hydrologic cycle will return a full snowpack to the Colorado Mountains. One last thing, once the river is returned to full flow, let’s give Mother Nature her share by allowing a constant flow into the Colorado River Delta.
P.S.
One of the named rivers flowing out of the Colorado Mountains is the Rio Grande River. With the increased snowpack this should return full flow to the Rio Grande River. With this river at full flow the southern US border will be reinforced. It is a lot harder to cross a fully flowing Rio Grande River than the current dried-up version.
Proponent.
Move the Water! is the proposed initiative of Active Climate Rescue Initiative. Active Climate Rescue Initiative is founded to actively rescue our climate by encouraging positive climate change through water relocation into earth’s water deficit areas. Anyplace in the world where there is a dry depression is a place where there is a moisture deficit. These places are the key to reversing climate change. By infusing these places with water from an open flow inlet, moisture can be reintroduced into the local environment through hydrologic processes. Active Climate Rescue Initiative is a Michigan Non-Profit Corporation approved by the USA IRS as a 501.c.3 Public Charity.
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