Author: David Owen
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698189906
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
“Wonderfully written…Mr. Owen writes about water, but in these polarized times the lessons he shares spill into other arenas. The world of water rights and wrongs along the Colorado River offers hope for other problems.” —Wall Street Journal An eye-opening account of where our water comes from and where it all goes. The Colorado River is an essential resource for a surprisingly large part of the United States, and every gallon that flows down it is owned or claimed by someone. David Owen traces all that water from the Colorado’s headwaters to its parched terminus, once a verdant wetland but now a million-acre desert. He takes readers on an adventure downriver, along a labyrinth of waterways, reservoirs, power plants, farms, fracking sites, ghost towns, and RV parks, to the spot near the U.S.–Mexico border where the river runs dry. Water problems in the western United States can seem tantalizingly easy to solve: just turn off the fountains at the Bellagio, stop selling hay to China, ban golf, cut down the almond trees, and kill all the lawyers. But a closer look reveals a vast man-made ecosystem that is far more complex and more interesting than the headlines let on. The story Owen tells in Where the Water Goes is crucial to our future: how a patchwork of engineering marvels, byzantine legal agreements, aging infrastructure, and neighborly cooperation enables life to flourish in the desert—and the disastrous consequences we face when any part of this tenuous system fails.
Where the Water Goes
Author: David Owen
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698189906
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
“Wonderfully written…Mr. Owen writes about water, but in these polarized times the lessons he shares spill into other arenas. The world of water rights and wrongs along the Colorado River offers hope for other problems.” —Wall Street Journal An eye-opening account of where our water comes from and where it all goes. The Colorado River is an essential resource for a surprisingly large part of the United States, and every gallon that flows down it is owned or claimed by someone. David Owen traces all that water from the Colorado’s headwaters to its parched terminus, once a verdant wetland but now a million-acre desert. He takes readers on an adventure downriver, along a labyrinth of waterways, reservoirs, power plants, farms, fracking sites, ghost towns, and RV parks, to the spot near the U.S.–Mexico border where the river runs dry. Water problems in the western United States can seem tantalizingly easy to solve: just turn off the fountains at the Bellagio, stop selling hay to China, ban golf, cut down the almond trees, and kill all the lawyers. But a closer look reveals a vast man-made ecosystem that is far more complex and more interesting than the headlines let on. The story Owen tells in Where the Water Goes is crucial to our future: how a patchwork of engineering marvels, byzantine legal agreements, aging infrastructure, and neighborly cooperation enables life to flourish in the desert—and the disastrous consequences we face when any part of this tenuous system fails.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698189906
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
“Wonderfully written…Mr. Owen writes about water, but in these polarized times the lessons he shares spill into other arenas. The world of water rights and wrongs along the Colorado River offers hope for other problems.” —Wall Street Journal An eye-opening account of where our water comes from and where it all goes. The Colorado River is an essential resource for a surprisingly large part of the United States, and every gallon that flows down it is owned or claimed by someone. David Owen traces all that water from the Colorado’s headwaters to its parched terminus, once a verdant wetland but now a million-acre desert. He takes readers on an adventure downriver, along a labyrinth of waterways, reservoirs, power plants, farms, fracking sites, ghost towns, and RV parks, to the spot near the U.S.–Mexico border where the river runs dry. Water problems in the western United States can seem tantalizingly easy to solve: just turn off the fountains at the Bellagio, stop selling hay to China, ban golf, cut down the almond trees, and kill all the lawyers. But a closer look reveals a vast man-made ecosystem that is far more complex and more interesting than the headlines let on. The story Owen tells in Where the Water Goes is crucial to our future: how a patchwork of engineering marvels, byzantine legal agreements, aging infrastructure, and neighborly cooperation enables life to flourish in the desert—and the disastrous consequences we face when any part of this tenuous system fails.
Science Be Dammed
Author: Eric Kuhn
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816540055
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
Science Be Dammed is an alarming reminder of the high stakes in the management—and perils in the mismanagement—of water in the western United States. It seems deceptively simple: even when clear evidence was available that the Colorado River could not sustain ambitious dreaming and planning by decision-makers throughout the twentieth century, river planners and political operatives irresponsibly made the least sustainable and most dangerous long-term decisions. Arguing that the science of the early twentieth century can shed new light on the mistakes at the heart of the over-allocation of the Colorado River, authors Eric Kuhn and John Fleck delve into rarely reported early studies, showing that scientists warned as early as the 1920s that there was not enough water for the farms and cities boosters wanted to build. Contrary to a common myth that the authors of the Colorado River Compact did the best they could with limited information, Kuhn and Fleck show that development boosters selectively chose the information needed to support their dreams, ignoring inconvenient science that suggested a more cautious approach. Today water managers are struggling to come to terms with the mistakes of the past. Focused on both science and policy, Kuhn and Fleck unravel the tangled web that has constructed the current crisis. With key decisions being made now, including negotiations for rules governing how the Colorado River water will be used after 2026, Science Be Dammed offers a clear-eyed path forward by looking back. Understanding how mistakes were made is crucial to understanding our contemporary problems. Science Be Dammed offers important lessons in the age of climate change about the necessity of seeking out the best science to support the decisions we make.
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816540055
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
Science Be Dammed is an alarming reminder of the high stakes in the management—and perils in the mismanagement—of water in the western United States. It seems deceptively simple: even when clear evidence was available that the Colorado River could not sustain ambitious dreaming and planning by decision-makers throughout the twentieth century, river planners and political operatives irresponsibly made the least sustainable and most dangerous long-term decisions. Arguing that the science of the early twentieth century can shed new light on the mistakes at the heart of the over-allocation of the Colorado River, authors Eric Kuhn and John Fleck delve into rarely reported early studies, showing that scientists warned as early as the 1920s that there was not enough water for the farms and cities boosters wanted to build. Contrary to a common myth that the authors of the Colorado River Compact did the best they could with limited information, Kuhn and Fleck show that development boosters selectively chose the information needed to support their dreams, ignoring inconvenient science that suggested a more cautious approach. Today water managers are struggling to come to terms with the mistakes of the past. Focused on both science and policy, Kuhn and Fleck unravel the tangled web that has constructed the current crisis. With key decisions being made now, including negotiations for rules governing how the Colorado River water will be used after 2026, Science Be Dammed offers a clear-eyed path forward by looking back. Understanding how mistakes were made is crucial to understanding our contemporary problems. Science Be Dammed offers important lessons in the age of climate change about the necessity of seeking out the best science to support the decisions we make.
Guide to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon
Author: Tom Martin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781732401747
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781732401747
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
The Colorado River
Author: Peter McBride
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781565796461
Category : Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Follows the Colorado River's 1450-mile journey from its headwaters high in the Colorado Rockies to its dried-up delta touching the Sea of Cortez, discussing its historical, geographical, and environmental significance.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781565796461
Category : Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Follows the Colorado River's 1450-mile journey from its headwaters high in the Colorado Rockies to its dried-up delta touching the Sea of Cortez, discussing its historical, geographical, and environmental significance.
Running Dry
Author: Jonathan Waterman
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1426205058
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324
Book Description
An eye-witness account of the many demands on the Colorado, from irrigating 3.5 million acres of farmland to watering the lawns of Los Angeles.
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1426205058
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324
Book Description
An eye-witness account of the many demands on the Colorado, from irrigating 3.5 million acres of farmland to watering the lawns of Los Angeles.
River Notes
Author: Wade Davis
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 9781610913614
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Plugged by no fewer than twenty-five dams, the Colorado is the world’s most regulated river drainage, providing most of the water supply of Las Vegas, Tucson, and San Diego, and much of the power and water of Los Angeles and Phoenix, cities that are home to more than 25 million people. If it ceased flowing, the water held in its reservoirs might hold out for three to four years, but after that it would be necessary to abandon most of southern California and Arizona, and much of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. For the entire American Southwest the Colorado is indeed the river of life, which makes it all the more tragic and ironic that by the time it approaches its final destination, it has been reduced to a shadow upon the sand, its delta dry and deserted, its flow a toxic trickle seeping into the sea. In this remarkable blend of history, science, and personal observation, acclaimed author Wade Davis tells the story of America’s Nile, how it once flowed freely and how human intervention has left it near exhaustion, altering the water temperature, volume, local species, and shoreline of the river Theodore Roosevelt once urged us to “leave it as it is.” Yet despite a century of human interference, Davis writes, the splendor of the Colorado lives on in the river’s remaining wild rapids, quiet pools, and sweeping canyons. The story of the Colorado River is the human quest for progress and its inevitable if unintended effects—and an opportunity to learn from past mistakes and foster the rebirth of America’s most iconic waterway. A beautifully told story of historical adventure and natural beauty, River Notes is a fascinating journey down the river and through mankind’s complicated and destructive relationship with one of its greatest natural resources.
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 9781610913614
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Plugged by no fewer than twenty-five dams, the Colorado is the world’s most regulated river drainage, providing most of the water supply of Las Vegas, Tucson, and San Diego, and much of the power and water of Los Angeles and Phoenix, cities that are home to more than 25 million people. If it ceased flowing, the water held in its reservoirs might hold out for three to four years, but after that it would be necessary to abandon most of southern California and Arizona, and much of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. For the entire American Southwest the Colorado is indeed the river of life, which makes it all the more tragic and ironic that by the time it approaches its final destination, it has been reduced to a shadow upon the sand, its delta dry and deserted, its flow a toxic trickle seeping into the sea. In this remarkable blend of history, science, and personal observation, acclaimed author Wade Davis tells the story of America’s Nile, how it once flowed freely and how human intervention has left it near exhaustion, altering the water temperature, volume, local species, and shoreline of the river Theodore Roosevelt once urged us to “leave it as it is.” Yet despite a century of human interference, Davis writes, the splendor of the Colorado lives on in the river’s remaining wild rapids, quiet pools, and sweeping canyons. The story of the Colorado River is the human quest for progress and its inevitable if unintended effects—and an opportunity to learn from past mistakes and foster the rebirth of America’s most iconic waterway. A beautifully told story of historical adventure and natural beauty, River Notes is a fascinating journey down the river and through mankind’s complicated and destructive relationship with one of its greatest natural resources.
Colorado River Basin Water Management
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309105242
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 222
Book Description
Recent studies of past climate and streamflow conditions have broadened understanding of long-term water availability in the Colorado River, revealing many periods when streamflow was lower than at any time in the past 100 years of recorded flows. That information, along with two important trends-a rapid increase in urban populations in the West and significant climate warming in the region-will require that water managers prepare for possible reductions in water supplies that cannot be fully averted through traditional means. Colorado River Basin Water Management assesses existing scientific information, including temperature and streamflow records, tree-ring based reconstructions, and climate model projections, and how it relates to Colorado River water supplies and demands, water management, and drought preparedness. The book concludes that successful adjustments to new conditions will entail strong and sustained cooperation among the seven Colorado River basin states and recommends conducting a comprehensive basinwide study of urban water practices that can be used to help improve planning for future droughts and water shortages.
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309105242
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 222
Book Description
Recent studies of past climate and streamflow conditions have broadened understanding of long-term water availability in the Colorado River, revealing many periods when streamflow was lower than at any time in the past 100 years of recorded flows. That information, along with two important trends-a rapid increase in urban populations in the West and significant climate warming in the region-will require that water managers prepare for possible reductions in water supplies that cannot be fully averted through traditional means. Colorado River Basin Water Management assesses existing scientific information, including temperature and streamflow records, tree-ring based reconstructions, and climate model projections, and how it relates to Colorado River water supplies and demands, water management, and drought preparedness. The book concludes that successful adjustments to new conditions will entail strong and sustained cooperation among the seven Colorado River basin states and recommends conducting a comprehensive basinwide study of urban water practices that can be used to help improve planning for future droughts and water shortages.
The Colorado River Documents, 2008
Author: Katherine Ott Verburg
Publisher: Government Printing Office
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 974
Book Description
Developed by the Bureau of Reclamation's Upper Colorado and Lower Colorado Regions, in collaboration with the Boulder City Field Solicitor, this is the latest of four books published by the Bureau of Reclamation to address the management of the Colorado River since the early 1900s. It summarizes 30 years of updates to the "Law of the Colorado River," a compilation of compacts, federal laws, court decisions and decrees, contracts, and regulatory guidelines that have been implemented over nearly a century to guide the management and operation of the Colorado River. It details the statutes, policies, agreements, and court decisions related to river operations, environmental matters, Mexican treaty deliveries, water development, water entitlement actions, Native American water settlements, proceedings in Arizona v. California, and power generation and distribution issues. All four books are available on the DVD.
Publisher: Government Printing Office
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 974
Book Description
Developed by the Bureau of Reclamation's Upper Colorado and Lower Colorado Regions, in collaboration with the Boulder City Field Solicitor, this is the latest of four books published by the Bureau of Reclamation to address the management of the Colorado River since the early 1900s. It summarizes 30 years of updates to the "Law of the Colorado River," a compilation of compacts, federal laws, court decisions and decrees, contracts, and regulatory guidelines that have been implemented over nearly a century to guide the management and operation of the Colorado River. It details the statutes, policies, agreements, and court decisions related to river operations, environmental matters, Mexican treaty deliveries, water development, water entitlement actions, Native American water settlements, proceedings in Arizona v. California, and power generation and distribution issues. All four books are available on the DVD.
Drowned River
Author: Rebecca Solnit
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781942185253
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 212
Book Description
Photographs by Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe; text by Rebecca Solnit.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781942185253
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 212
Book Description
Photographs by Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe; text by Rebecca Solnit.
The Grand Canyon: Unseen Beauty
Author: Thomas Blagden Jr.
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
ISBN: 0789341115
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The majesty of the Grand Canyon is celebrated from the Colorado River as it continues to carve America's natural wonder from a mile below the rim. As one of the Wonders of the World and the most iconic national park in America, the Grand Canyon enthralls six million visitors each year. Only a small fraction of those people, however, have the privilege of experiencing the canyon by rafting down the Colorado River. The Grand Canyon captures and evokes the power of that journey from the drama of the rapids and the immeasurable scale of the canyon walls to the subtle rock patterns and varied life forms. What started as an exceptional opportunity for Tom Blagden to raft through The Canyon in 2006 with Rod Nash at the oars has evolved into a passionate photographic pursuit that still continues. The route--the River--is the same every time but the experience constantly variable and deeply profound. Rafters never tire of it and, if anything, feel more in awe of the Canyon's magnificence with each trip. Tom Blagden's images and Rod Nash's essay reveal the canyon from a different perspective portraying what it's like to be on the river and immersed a mile deep, surrounded by rock almost half the age of the earth. On the centennial of Grand Canyon National Park it seems only fitting that we journey together to this unique place through the pages of this astonishing book. The book weaves a wondrous adventure that will bring readers along on a journey while raising questions about the significance of a national park and an iconic American river and how to sustain them for generations to follow.
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
ISBN: 0789341115
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The majesty of the Grand Canyon is celebrated from the Colorado River as it continues to carve America's natural wonder from a mile below the rim. As one of the Wonders of the World and the most iconic national park in America, the Grand Canyon enthralls six million visitors each year. Only a small fraction of those people, however, have the privilege of experiencing the canyon by rafting down the Colorado River. The Grand Canyon captures and evokes the power of that journey from the drama of the rapids and the immeasurable scale of the canyon walls to the subtle rock patterns and varied life forms. What started as an exceptional opportunity for Tom Blagden to raft through The Canyon in 2006 with Rod Nash at the oars has evolved into a passionate photographic pursuit that still continues. The route--the River--is the same every time but the experience constantly variable and deeply profound. Rafters never tire of it and, if anything, feel more in awe of the Canyon's magnificence with each trip. Tom Blagden's images and Rod Nash's essay reveal the canyon from a different perspective portraying what it's like to be on the river and immersed a mile deep, surrounded by rock almost half the age of the earth. On the centennial of Grand Canyon National Park it seems only fitting that we journey together to this unique place through the pages of this astonishing book. The book weaves a wondrous adventure that will bring readers along on a journey while raising questions about the significance of a national park and an iconic American river and how to sustain them for generations to follow.