Water Scarcity & the Colorado River- What’s the damage?

The Colorado River no longer reaches the Sea of Cortez.

This type of change within our natural surroundings begs the question: How much do we really know about the disintegration of certain elements in our environment?

Just published in early November, there is now a singular book that aims to give us an informed perspective of one of this planet’s greatest natural wonders—it’s name: “The Colorado River: Flowing Through Conflict”. Inside its cover, both the beauty and the demise of the Colorado River are documented through dramatic, dazzling ground-level and aerial photography along with insightful prose.

Pete McBride, a Colorado native and co-author and photographer of this book, has created an unprecedented visual journey of the entire length of the Colorado River and its basin, taking his readers’ down the canyons and through the evolutionary flow of this water source. His hope is that the book will raise greater awareness of our national treasure as well as to bring light to what has become of it in our current day.

For over two years, Pete and his partner—author Jon Waterman—traveled every part of this long waterway detailing its transformation. Then, they dedicated an additional year to compile the book with photos, essays, and captions. In providing an increased consciousness, the book’s authors hope to ignite change and to educate our population away from the general view of the river as a western plumbing device and replace this erroneous perspective with that of a natural habitat.

Pete and Jon are currently traveling across the West conducting lectures and slideshows on their book project. They have also made a short promo video (on Pete’s website now) and plan to make a longer film piece. Pete’s images have made a vital impression to date with a recent First Place win at the International Fotoweek DC 2010 for Environmental Conservation.

For Coloradans and beyond, Pete and Jon’s research and insight will be of significant reference in our environmental future. This past week, Pete graciously answered a few questions on the circumstances of one of our world’s most remarkable rivers.

Interview:

Kim: Pete, who are you?

Pete: I’m a native Coloradan who spent my childhood skiing, hiking, and boating in the Elk Mountains around my home in Old Snowmass. As a result, I grew a deep love for the stillness in mountains and the fluidity of the rivers that flow from them. For the last 15 years I have made my living as a photographer and journalist working in over 60 countries mostly for the National Geographic Society, Smithsonian, Men’s Journal, Outside and some commercial clients like Patagonia and Mountain Hardwear.

Kim: What inspired this project? What pulled you to it? How was the partnership with Jon Waterman formed?

Pete: I grew up on a cattle ranch in Colorado and spent my summers irrigating our fields and cutting our hay. I often wondered how it would take our irrigation water from our Roaring Fork Valley Ranch to reach the sea. I guess I was born with a curious mind. Jon Waterman and I partnered a bit by coincidence as we both decided to focus on our local watershed after years of working in distant lands. I was later assigned to cover Jon's source to sea paddle by Nat. Geo. Adventure and soon realized the river deserved more serious coverage.

Kim: What was the best moment of this effort, as well as the most challenging?

Pete: The best part was investigating every inch of this mighty river, mostly from small aircraft of which I hired my father as the pilot for much of it. The headwaters, Cataract Canyon, The Grand -- they were all highlights, but in a weird way, the dry delta was the most beautiful and most distressing. To see it at such a dire, evaporated state was alarming. Most challenging? Staying focused over such a long period of time and walking the dry delta with a 90 lb pack constantly wondering what we would find next: a hopeful water cache or an unfriendly drug runner.

Kim: Why is this book important?

Pete: I think this book if important because it gives us both a visual and written record of the state of one of our most beloved, farmed, diverted and litigated rivers in the world. I don't think the book will directly change the river's future, but with greater awareness, I am hopeful it might indirectly serve as a tool to make people start the conversation that leads to greater water efficiency uses basin-wide and greater river restoration efforts.

Kim: In terms of the book’s message- What is beyond our grasp? What can we still do?

Pete: At every talk/ slideshow I give, I tell people that this situation is not beyond repair or the end of the story. If we can build the Hoover Dams of the world and engineer the Central Arizona Project that takes CO River water 336 miles uphill across the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, we can engineer our way out of this drought/ over-allocation problem. It is as much an issue of desire as anything.

Kim: What is the big picture for Colorado and for our country? How is Colorado snowfall related to the water issues/scarcity?

Pete: Colorado is directly related to this issue, as is the rest of the country. Colorado's western snowpack produces the majority of the river but the state also consumes roughly 25% of the flow -- with much of that water being diverted under the Continental Divide to a growing demand on the eastern slope. As for the country, if you live in the southwest, you are mostly likely one of the 30 million (expected to grow to 50 million in the near future) who depends on the river for drinking water, showers, lawns, and food. And if you live elsewhere and you like green salads, the entire US lettuce crop during the months of November and December come from Colorado-river-supplied farms in the Imperial Valley area. So, nearly all Americans depend on this river to a degree.

Kim: What is next?

Pete: We are in a 10-year drought and if weather and climate change predictions continue, we should see water shortages throughout the Colorado River basin starting to become more frequent. They could lead to greater efficiencies (Las Vegas is a good example) but also great conflicts mostly behind closed doors in law offices. The law of the river, The Colorado Compact, ultimately needs to be revisited since it was crafted in 1922 with inaccurate river flow data. We now know the river flows about 1/8 less than originally thought but few want to give up their access to that once believed 1/8 flow. A percentage based allotment would help but until this document is updated, and current weather trends continue, expect to see continued drops in reservoirs and the Colorado River to run dry some 90 miles shy of the sea -- leaving one of the largest desert estuaries in North America as chapped as the surrounding desert.

Simply put, when we ask too much from a limited resource: it disappears.

Chasing Water: The Colorado River; Flowing Through Conflict from Peter McBride on Vimeo.

To purchase Pete and Jon’s book, go directly to Pete’s website at: www.petemcbride.com ($50 for a hardcover/ $28 for a softcover). The hard cover is a limited edition and only available there or at book signings and lectures. The softcover is available at distributors’ nationwide (bookstores, Amazon, etc and certain sporting stores like REI).

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