COLOR WEEK HITS THE SONORAN DESERT … WATCH YOUR STEP
beavertails
octillo
ARIZONA’S COLOR WEEK can be blinding and that can be dangerous in a place where everything will either stick, sting or bite you so get a grip before venturing out into the GREAT SONORAN DESERT. Always carry water, if you don’t need it, someone else might ! Make sure your tires and spare is in good condition and tell someone where you are going, when you will be home and charge your cellphone battery and your camera battery. Now relax and enjoy the drive and in almost any direction you care to venture frohttps://pkweis.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2108&action=edit&message=1m Tucson or Phoenix ! 
Two weeks ago, the Palo Verde Tree took on its annual golden coat and the Hedgehog Cactus showed off its purple bloom, a few weeks earlier, a few poppies and lupine made a wildflower showing but 2011 will not be a memorable year. Since then, old reliable favorites, everyone is getting into the act, the Cholla has green, yellow, red blooms and the prickly-pears ever present abundant yellow bloom, the Octillo blooms red, and the white Saguaro bloom has already begun to show in spite of its big show in early June but the Sonoran Desert will be in riotous color for the next month as this land begins to heat up for a long, unrelenting summer, interrupted only by the monsoon rains … April is the only month when I have seen Gila Monsters out walking around, it is their mating season so they tend to prowl a bit more and they raise he ante for folks who never look where they are putting their feet and hands. Those are the folks who tend to get stung or bitten. Rattlesnake have made a showing in every month of the year but this time of the year they are out, but moving onto the warmer shoulders of roadways in the early evenings so take a flashlight for your walk back and wear boots not tennies, stepping on a snake is the best way to get bit! Who carries a plastic comb anymore in this digital age, you should, nothing works better in removing the “dreaded jumping cholla” from the back of your leg. Scorpions can be found under most any rock, the sting of the tiny Bark Scorpion, can last twelve hours and will lay out a big guy, for relief apply ice…. A macro focusing lens can be helpful but a close-focusing telephoto allows you to work at a safer distance. The Sonoran Desert is well known for its quality of light but blooms tend to open after sunup and spread their petals as the sun warms the day so late afternoon may be best time to venture out to see what is going on right in your own backyard.
E http://www.southwestphotobank.com/gallery/SW-SPRING/G0000RMpNl8xymQg … FOR SLIDE SHOW
THE COLORADO RIVER IS THE LIFEBLOOD OF THE SOUTHWEST
Imperial Dam
Until the early 20th century the Colorado River ran free from its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado southwest into Mexico, where it flowed into the Gulf of California, Significant quantities of nourishing silt from throughout the Colorado River Basin were carried downstream, creating the vast Colorado River Delta. Prior to the construction of major dams along its route, the Colorado River fed one of the largest desert estuaries in the world. Spread across the northernmost end of the Gulf of California, the Colorado River delta’s vast riparian, freshwater, brackish, and tidal wetlands once covered almost two Million acres and supported a large population of plant, bird, and marine life. Because most of the river’s flow reached the delta at that time, its freshwater, silt, and nutrients helped created and sustain a complex system of wetlands that provided feeding and nesting grounds for birds, and spawning habitat for fish and marine mammals. In contrast to the surrounding Sonoran Desert, the Colorado River delta’s abundance was striking so says wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_Delta .
Lake Havasu
Parker Dam
When Parker Dam was built in 1938, the valley slowly began to fill and initially Lake Havasu was once a segment of the mighty Colorado River. As the Lake has grown to 45 miles, in 1964, Lake Havasu City Incorporated and today it has a population for over 50,000 residents. The main business drive, through town and across the London Bridge to the Island paradise of shops, restaurants, bars is McCulloch Drive, named after an oil tycoon who in the late 1950’s spotted from the air the perfect place to test his motor boats and engines. In 1964, Robert P. McCulloch purchased 26 square miles of property in western Arizona (at a cost of $73.47 per acre it was the largest single tract of land ever sold in Arizona. At the time, there were no buildings or paved roads in the area. But the land was all along the Colorado River, just hours from Southern California, Las Vegas and Phoenix, making Lake Havasu City, a prime vacation, second homes and retirement destination for boating, golfing, off-roading and sun-loving enthusiasts. Lake Havasu has been the Arizona home of the “ London Bridge” since 1971 when McCulloch bought the bridge, had it shipped to America and then reconstructed it over the man made channel separating the island and the main land of Lake Havasu City.
London Bridge
Laguna Dam flow
The basin dams store more than 3 Billion cubic feet of water, which is about four times the Colorado River’s average annual runoff. The largest, HOOVER DAM, was completed in 1936, it is the border between Nevada and Arizona. GLEN CANYON DAM is the second largest, built in 1964 in north-central Arizona. These two dams provide about 80 percent of the entire water-storage capacity in the basin. The Moralos Diversion Dam, located on the Mexico–Arizona border, is the southernmost dam on the Colorado River. It sends nearly all of the remaining water to irrigation canals in the Mexicali Valley and to the Mexican towns of Mexicali and Tijuana.
Morelos Diversion Dam Canal in Northern Mexico
As a result, the river rarely reaches the Gulf of California, normally the river’s mouth. Consequently, the vast wetlands at the mouth of the Colorado River have been reduced to just a fraction of their former size, vegetation and wildlife have been affected. Before the construction of all these dams, the Colorado flowed 80 miles through Mexico to the Gulf of California.
The Colorado River was the first to employ a multi-purpose dam system during the 20th Century. These dams were primarily to generate electricity, control floods, and provide recreational opportunities. They also stored water during wet times for use during the dry months or dry year Hydroelectric generation from water stored at dam sites along the Colorado River totals about 12 billion kilowatt-hours per year, which is roughly equivalent to one-sixth of the electricity consumed in Arizona each year. This power is shared among several western states. 
CAP uses gravity feed to generate hydro-electricity. 
“THE STRIP” LAS VEGAS puts on the dog every nite …
The dams of the Colorado River are used to control runoff and to develop flood-prone lands along the lower river. Some of the reservoirs created by dams have become national recreational areas against
fantastic southwest landscapes. Lake Mead National Recreation Area as one example, is Lake Mead, formed by Hoover Dam, and Lake Mohave, formed by Davis Dam, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area includes Lake Powell.
The Imperial Dam, about 18 miles northeast of Yuma, Az diverts water into the All-American Canal, which goes west of Calexico, Ca before going north into the Imperial Valley. Six smaller canals branch off the All American Canal distributing water into the Imperial Valley. The canal systems can irrigate over 600,000 acres of good crop land and has greatly increased crop yield.
It is the largest irrigation canal in the world, carrying a maximum of 26,155 cubic feet per second.
The Colorado River’s ability to generate hydroelectric power has been very successful. More than 20 dams have been built on the Colorado and its tributaries, As a result, the river rarely reaches the Gulf of California. The Morelos Diversion Dam, located on the Mexico-Arizona border is the southernmost dam on the Colorado. It sends all of the remaining water to irrigation canals in the Mexicali Valley and to the towns of Mexicali and Tijuana.
Mexicalli Valley is one of Mexico’s Bread basket and this is the area affected by the Earthquake in 2010.
Picking lettuce in Northern Mexico east of Mexicalli
salt in hand
SALINITY is a water quality problem of growing importance within the Colorado River. The amount of solids or salts comes naturally from runoff over rocks and soils. When river water is used for irrigation, some salts evaporate, and become concentrated in the remaining water that returns to the river. The salt problem is also caused by evaporation from reservoir surfaces and water use by plants along the river. The concentration of salt in the water of the lower river valley is so high that it cannot be used for human consumption without treatment. As a result, U.S. desalinization plant in YUMA removes salt from the river and allows the United States to provide Mexico with usable water.
Because the river carries an estimated 9 million tons of salts annually water quality problems occur in the Colorado River Basin. The salinity is expected to increase in the future because of increased human use, even worse, the lower Colorado River contains about 2,000 pounds of salts per acre-foot.
salts
In 2010 April 4 an earthquake on the Mexico Border buckled canals and destroyed pipelines in a broad agricultural area south of Mexicali irrigated by water diverted from the Colorado River at the Morelos Dam south of Yuma, Az. Because of the quake damage Mexico can not deliver the water to their farms. Roughly one-third of the Mexicali Valley suffered damage to its water infrastructure.
Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico receives 1.5 million acre-feet of water a year from the Colorado River. California can draw 4.4 million acre feet, Arizona gets 2.8 million acre feet, and Nevada’s share is 300,000 acre-feet. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, also get shares of under the Colorado River Compact of 1922. Because of the quake damage in Norther Mexico and its’ inability to distribute it’s CAP allotment MEXICO has begun talks to store their share at Lake Mead until their Northern Mexico canals and farms can be repaired.
irrigation pushes back the
dunes and makes way for green fields
An acre-foot is enough to supply two average Las Vegas area homes for a year. Each 100,000 acre-feet of water adds about one foot to Lake Mead, and a single foot is crucial as the lake level drops closer to a shortage declaration. At 1,075 feet, Nevada and Arizona will be forced to reduce their combined water use by 400,000 acre-feet a year. Nevada’s share of those shortages would start at 13,000 acre-feet, increase to 17,000 acre-feet, and then reach 20,000 acre-feet as Lake Mead continues to drop.
LAKE MEAD’S floating docks became essential as the water levels continue to drop
In exchange for helping now and future Colorado River Water if Mexico begins harvesting drinking water from the sea some day, both sides of the border have expressed interest in U.S. investment in Mexican desalination plants along the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California. Jointly funded plants would supply drinking water to growing coastal communities south of the border and thirsty U.S. cities, including Las Vegas. Mexico might become the only game in town for the seven Western states that share the drought-stricken Colorado River. if Mexican officials built a desalination plant for the growing city of Rosarito, south of Tijuana, the Southern Nevada Water Authority might buy a piece of that plant in exchange for a portion of Mexico’s allocation of Colorado River water. Thirsty cities, like Phoenix and Los Angeles could make similar arrangements. This paradigm works only if the Colorado River has water to exchange. If there’s nothing in the river, there’s nothing to swap Mexico .
GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT PREDICTS WARMER TEMPS …
2011 RUNOFF EXPECTED TO BE ABOVE AVERAGE …
Yuma Sunset
May 02, 2013 – A new NASA airborne mission has created the first maps of the entire snow pack of two major mountain watersheds in California and Colorado, producing the most accurate measurements to date of how much water they hold. The data from NASA’s Airborne Snow Observatory mission will be used to estimate how much water will flow out of the basins when the snow melts. The data-gathering technology could improve water management for 1.5 billion people worldwide who rely on snow melt for their water supply.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-154&cid=release_2013-154
MEXICO: THE ECOLOGY OF THE COLORADO RIVER
THE ENDANGERED SANTA CLARA WETLANDS
The lower Colorado River plays an important role in the migratory pathways of birds that winter in the southern United States and serves as the gateway for those species continuing south into Mexico. Although not extensively studied, the delta’s significance for migratory birds is indisputable, as it is the principal freshwater marsh in the region. A total of 358 bird species have been documented in the Colorado River Delta and upper Gulf of California region. From these, two are listed as endangered, six as threatened, and sixteen are under special protection in Mexico. Two wintering species and five breeding species have been locally extirpated, including the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, the Fulvous-whistling Duck, and the Sandhill Crane.
birdcount
The delta supports a variety of wildlife, including several threatened and endangered species. Mexico’s Environmental Regulations on Endangered Species lists the following endangered species found in the delta:
• the Desert Pupfish, also listed as an endangered species in the U.S., the largest remaining population anywhere is in La Ciénega de Santa Clara
• the Yuma Clapper Rail, also listed as an endangered species in the U.S.
• the Bobcat
• the Vaquita porpoise, the world’s smallest marine cetacean, listed as a species of special concern by the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission. There are less than 250 vaquita left in the world.
• the Totoaba, now virtually extinct, a steel-blue fish that grows up to seven feet and 300 pounds and once supported a commercial fishery that died in 1975
• the Colorado Delta Clam, once an extremely abundant species and important in the ecosystem.
• The delta of the Colorado River is one of the major desert-river estuaries of the world and contains the largest wetland ecosystem in the Sonoran Desert.
Much of the delta has been converted into irrigated farmland; but approximately 250,000 hectares of unconverted delta land, too low for drainage and too saline for agriculture, still exists at the southern end of the delta in Mexico. Within this area lies the Cienega de Santa Clara, the largest brackish wetland habitat in the lower delta. This wetland is about to undergo major alteration in flow and salinity of input water due to activation of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Yuma Desalting Plant in Arizona.
• Prior to the construction of Hoover Dam and other upstream water diversions, the majority of the delta was lushly vegetated with an estimated 200 to 400 plant species I as well as numerous bird, fish, mammals. The Cienega de Santa Clara may be the largest wetland bird habitat left in the Delta long known for its higher concentrations of Yuma Clapper Rails and Pupfish than known elsewhere. Both species remain on the endangered list. Mexican officials have also expressed interest in cooperating to protect the delta wetlands where the diminished river trickles into the Gulf of California.
mouth of the Colorado River at entrance to the Gulf of California
The lower Colorado River also separates two great deserts, the Mojave on the California (western) side and the Sonoran on the Arizona (eastern) side. Over the eons the River has served as a genetic barrier, separating both sides as well as isolating species that can’t swim across the river or fly across the desert, limiting the development of subspecies in the region.
Birds of the Colorado http://www.pinesandprairieslandtrust.org/CRR_Bird_List.htm
Colorado River Nature Center http://www.azgfd.gov/outdoor_recreation/wildlife_area_co_river_nature.shtml
THE COLORADO RIVER WATERS THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST
The Colorado River system, including the river, its streams, and the lands that those waters drain, is called the Colorado River Watershed. It drains 246,000 square miles, including parts of U.S. states Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, California and Mexico. Colorado River Basin is federal land comprised of national forests, national parks, and Indian reservations. The drainage total runoff is 25,000 cubic feet per second, about two-thirds is used for irrigation, and the other one-third supplies urban areas, evaporates into the atmosphere, or provides water to riparian vegetation.
Today nearly 17 million people depend on the Colorado’s waters 80 percent of the region’s residents live in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada are the largest cities in the basin, and they use the Colorado River as their prime source of water. Water from the Colorado River is diverted eastward across the Rocky Mountains to Denver, The Colorado River Aqueduct carries water to metropolitan Los Angeles, and the Central Arizona Project supplies the Phoenix and Tucson areas. The All-American Canal provides water for the Imperial Valley of southern California, a productive agricultural region created in the desert. 
Los Angeles Canal built in 1930-31 
The Central Arizona Project brings 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water per year to Pima, Pinal and Maricopa counties in southern Arizona between Phoenix and Tucson.
Glenn Morales fertilizes CAP water on the San Xavier Farm south of Tucson.
The CAP carries water from Lake Havasu near Parker to the southern boundary of the San Xavier Indian Reservation southwest of Tucson. It is a 336-mile long system of aqueducts, tunnels, pumping plants and pipelines and is the largest single resource of renewable water supplies in the state of Arizona.
The Colorado River is the primary water source for these four major US cities, all considered at-risk for suffering from acute water shortage, Los Angeles (first) Phoenix (third) Las Vegas (seven) and Tucson (eighth). Other cities on the list are Texan towns of Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Orlando Florida, Atlanta Georgia and the entire California San Francisco Bay area.
Currently Tucson (ranked 8th) receives less than 12 inches of rainfall each year, the Tucson region uses about 350,000 acre-feet of water per year. At this rate, Tucson’s groundwater supply, which now provides the majority of the city’s water, has a very limited life span. In addition to this, the city is currently bringing in 314,000 acre-feet per year from the Colorado River under the Central Arizona Project. However, Tucson has added more than 20,000 people since 2000.
Las Vegas (ranked 7th) receives 4.5 inches of rainfall each year. Home to a half million people living in the middle of the Mojave Desert getting 85 % of its water from Lake Mead which is now almost 60% dry. Perhaps the lights going out in LA will be noticed when Hoover Dam stops producing electricity in 2013.
Phoenix (ranked 3rd) receives 8.3 inches of rainfall leaving 1,593,659 people depending upon their groundwater, the Salt-Gila Complex, and the Colorado River for their drinking water. Phoenix is adopting an recycling campaign to aggressively replenish groundwater, and cut back on over use.
Los Angeles (ranked lst) receives 14.77 inches of rainfall annually leaving 3,831,868 people depending upon the Colorado River drinking water carried by miles of pipes, aqueducts. The fastest growing city in the country continues to increase its demand at an unsustainable rate.
Hoover Dam, which is the main source of electricity for LA and much of the greater southwest, is now producing at a lower rate than it has historically. Some scientists suspect this drop-off will continue to a point where its electricity production is too small to sustain the dam economically. Los Angeles, even if the dam doesn’t cease production in 2013, as some predict, it still faces serious water shortages.
aerial view of the US-MEXICO BORDER showing Colorado River Water in the ALL AMERICAN CANAL and the irrigated Imperial Valley and note the lands south of the border-the empty lands of Mexico.
THE ALL-AMERICAN CANAL
The All-American Canal is a 170-foot-wide conduit that transports water from the Colorado River near Yuma, Ariz., across the arid desert along the Mexican border for 17 miles into the Imperial Valley of Southern California and with over 500 people having drowned in the canal since 1997, it has been called “the Most Dangerous Body of Water in the U.S.. The canal was constructed in the late 1930s and early 1940s, it supplies water to the Imperial Irrigation District. It is the largest water canal in the world at 80 miles in length.
MILTON COLEMAN from YUMA Says the BLUEGILL fish he catches is the “best-eating” fish he catches in the All AMERICAN CANAL…
FOOD GROWS WHERE WATER FLOWS … THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY IS DYING
PAUL W. “loved the Colorado River” and his friends left his marker overlooking the river he lived for. ..
Famed humorist, actor, statesman and cowboy Will Rogers said this about the OWENS VALLEY that the LA aqueduct drained in 1930: “Ten years ago this was a wonderful valley with one-quarter of a million acres of fruit and alfalfa. But Los Angeles had to have more water for its Chamber of Commerce to drink more toasts to its growth, more water to dilute its orange juice and more water for its geraniums to delight the tourists, while the giant cottonwoods here died. So, now this is a valley of desolation.”
Alfredo
Alfredo Cervantes, a life-long agricultural supervisor or field-worker that came to the US in the 1960’s from Mexico with his father to farm land next to the Colorado River and he never left the River. Across the river in Arizona there are some folks who would hate Alfredo because he had three kids, all did well, one son’s a paramedic and another works admission at a hospital another works elsewhere in the medical field and all ask dad “why do you work so long and hard”. Cervantes admits he works day and night for his fields, always has. He gets up to turn on the water and nurses the water into the rows to beat the sun and the evaporation. ” When I farm I grow enough food for almost a 100 people”, he says modestly of his yearly efforts farming his fields adjacent to the Colorado Rivers nine miles south of Blythe, CA. He nurtures his alfalfa, his family, the sugarcane he grows on the family farm outside of Guadalajara in Jalisco and has struggled for a lifetime to give his kids a better life. Alfredo admits he never went to school!
cervantes
field irrigation
But he learned to read, he liked World Books, folks gave him other reading, he pursued his interests–I mentioned my Cuba trip and he brightened when I pointed out they shared his Spanish blood … “Richest land anywhere, they say in Cuba you can grow anything there”! he announces with absoluteness. But his readings have also made him worry about what he sees around him. The field across the road became a RV Park adjacent to the river “for people on vacation” he says they sold their water rights to LA like about 30-40 per cent of the entire valley has already sold and the richest land in the world sits fallow. Meanwhile the water flowing next to this field is siphoned from the river pumped uphill day-in, day-out sending the farmer’s water share to LA since they bought the water rights there. just like LA did in Owens Valley says Alfredo who explained how LA had bought up all water rights in the richest Eden ever-known and after building an engineering miracle of a 200 mile aqueduct they returned to pump out the ground water and to turn the once green, lush paradise into an alkali wasteland of blowing dust void of topsoil. “You know, like they did in Oklahoma during the depressions” Alfredo continues … He also feels bad feels bad about his lack of education, but he believes he “elevated his children’s opportunities in life but feels bad because none of them want to do the work he had done all his life and inherited from his father, a life of living off the earth. A life in harmony with the land. After talking to Alfredo, I cheaked facts and found he was right about so much, the Mono Lake debacle, where the 20 mile-long lake, the centerpiece of Owen Valley had disappeared, destroying the resident’s way of life and property values, some say, the residents of the Owen Valley were made whole by final settlements, but how do you reimburse someone for destroying their quality of life.
Alfredo Cervantes is the canary in the coal mine ! He’s worried, he is looking around and it’s getting dark all around him and he is speaking out–doesn’t everyone see where this is heading … it has happened before. LA is doing it again ! They are still debating whether or not they can plant lawns in LA. Tucson gave up lawns for green gravel in the mid-1970’s. St. George Utah is fast growing, and happens to be the driest county in Utah. Presently, they are debating the building of a canal to Lake Powell 130 miles away, some are for it and other say they don’t need it. They point out St George has the highest per capita water consumption rate for desert cities in the US (335gal/person/day twice Tucson’s usage) and still enjoys the country’s lowest rates and grow green lawns made from Kentucky Bluegrass, a species known for its thirst.
Morrow Mayo, a Los Angeles reporter wrote: “Los Angeles gets its water by reason of one of the costliest, crooked, most unscrupulous deals ever perpetrated, plus one of the greatest pieces of engineering folly ever heard of. Owens Valley is there for anybody to see. The city of Los Angeles moved through this valley like a devastating plague. It was ruthless, stupid, cruel and crooked. It stole the waters of the Owens River. It drove the people of Owens Valley from their homes, a home that they had built from the desert. For no sound reason, for no sane reason, it destroyed a helpless agricultural section and a dozen towns. It was an obscene enterprise from the beginning to end.”
SOUTHWEST PONZIE SCHEME…the next economic bubble specific to every homeowner in the South West Region
I got to thinking that the Colorado River could be the biggest ponzie scam of all. There were lots of warnings, but not until I read how the $68Million relining of the All American Canal had been financed and paid for by San Diego County for the rights to the water that would have been lost from the canal had it not been relined. It was then, I thought of the campers shoulder to shoulder, backed into a parallel parking spot with maybe a picnic table, shared toilet and water for $20-$45 a night or $320 for the week. Drop a boat in the water, add $20-$50 (summer rates) a day to moor. Need power, septic, cable, shade, try $60 a night. Extra person in campsite or RV add $6, Dog deposit fee $20 refundable, if all goes well. Or the twenty-five boat dealers or rental facilities who will rent a pontoon boat from $275 up a day and delivery it anywhere on the river for $150. This is big business! From the resorts, hotels and folks squeezed into campsites shoulder to shoulder. People spend $45 or more to park their rig in sought after cove operations which are self-sufficient, having their own fuel pumps, restaurants, club house and enforced peace and quiet. They will collect A premium fine, if you or your dog misbehaves.
for sale
It is in this focus that the warnings that Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, could feasibly run dry, with catastrophic implications. FOR EXAMPLE; take a mobile home worth $30,000 everywhere else and place a hundred of them next to the river and sell them each for $99,000 each, everyone’s happy till the water runs out. Everything is leverage against everything else and if the water goes away so goes it all. The water is the glue that holds all of it together.
COLORADO RIVER’S SPRING TRANSITION FROM SNOW BIRDS TO RIVER RATS
Waverunners with California backdrop
Arizona Shoreline north of Parker
SPRING BREAK, is a nation-wide popular rite of SPRING, at Lake Havasu on the Colorado River, it also begins the transition from the quiet SNOWBIRDS to a long-summer infestation of RIVER RATS. Talked with one winter visitor who parks his RV Bus on a strip of dirt called Imperial County long term parking and he and 900 other vehicles or approximately 1800-2000 people hang out and prowl the hills looking for birds and bighorns. When winter ends my RV Visiter, former military from Conneticut, drives it ten miles north to the :Yuma Proving Grounds and parks it there for the summer at $40 a month. He son from Gilbert, AZ picks him up there and puts him on a plane in Phoenix til next year. Further up the road on the Arizona side, in Quartzite, gem sales popup everywhere and between 20-25,000 RV’s showup and park in the warm winter sun, creating a city in early January of 50,000 campers. LAKE HAVASU which sits on the Arizona side of the lake and borders California this year is also in the nation’s theaters with PIRANHA 3D, a hi-tech view of the river community during spring break but then fish start eating people-there are lots of half-eaten folks-strange PR—but the best press you don’t read—you simply weigh it. Much like fishing, don’t tell me about some fish you caught, put it on the scale.
Today nearly 17 million people depends upon the water of the Colorado River’s 80 percent of these folks live in Phoenix and Tucson and Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Hoover Dam in 1931 was the greatest engineering accomplishment of it’s time and made it all possible. It’s 726’ height and 1244’ length dams up the greatest river in the American SouthWest, the Rio Colorado, whose headwaters 1450 miles north in Colorado, drains almost a quarter million square miles. The Dam, enjoys seven million visitors a year, and has enough concrete (4.5 million cubic yards) in Hoover Dam to build a two-lane road cross-country from Seattle to Miami. Lake Mead has added 550 miles of shoreline behind the dam and has a capacity of 1.25 trillion cubic feet of water that could cover the state of Pennsylvania one foot deep. It is the largest reservoir in the United States.
Roughly 60 million people today live in the American South West amongst with the ruins of civilizations that were brought to their knees by severe droughts experienced frequently in this region over the last 2,000 years. Droughts serve as stark reminders of just how inhospitable the great American desert can be. Previous catastrophic droughts occurred in times free from the influence of global warming and the increasing aridity that many scientists predict will bring new challenges to living in the southwest.
CALIFORNIA Sunrise
ARIZONA River houses
The Colorado River has long been the lifeline of the American South West, the watershed covers seven states and Mexico. More than 100% of its water today is used for recreation, agriculture and drinking water. Heavily recycle, the water is constantly re-used. Because of over-use the massive reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell have gone down in the past decade to half capacity. When the Colorado River was divided up in 1922, more water was awarded than actually exists most years, and the recent drought make those numbers worse moving into a period of “global warming” clearly the golden period of water has past. Last year’s rainfall and snow melt are now predicted to cover the region’s needs but last year it was feared CAP water allotments might be necessarily cut due to shortages at Lake Mead. Nature and the poorer regions like Mexico receive less and less. The South West view that money flows uphill toward money is seen by the unchecked growth of LAS VEGAS, NEVADA and today water flows to where man demands rather than to where nature intended, a tradition that began at the turn of the century and continues today. But can it be sustained ? Warnings have been made that Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, could feasibly run dry with catastrophic economic implications to the Southwest.
http://www.coolestspringbreak.com/lake-havasu-spring-break.html
SOUTHWEST PHOTO JOURNAL 