Colorado River Water Droplet: Other Issues

Becca Roessler

Emily Gross

I am a water droplet, two Hydrogen atoms and one Oxygen atom covalently bonded together.  There are many pathways I may take in life, but a particularly winding one is found along the Colorado River.  My family and I began forming the Colorado river valley about 6 billion years ago and in no time we carved our way through seven states, formed the Grand Canyon, and worked our way to the Sea of Cortex.  Five trillion gallons of water rage down this river today; few make it to the end of the river (Zielinski, 2010).  With today’s new technologies, it is an even more rare occasion for one of us to make it to the ocean, but I will get to that later.

My journey starts in La Poudre Pass Lake, high up in the Rocky Mountains.  From there I begin my journey downhill into the Colorado River valley.  I must pass through many dams and lakes (both naturally formed and manmade).  These dams are formed in order to divert water toward farmland, large-scale agro-business, and the municipalities of the area (usbr, 2014).  In the past, this was not an issue; there was plenty of water to go around!  However, with increasing population size and settlement in the southwest, it’s becoming nearly impossible to provide water for everything and everyone.  This has led to a lot of conflict throughout history.

There are numerous decrees, laws, contracts, and guidelines about where water from the river is allocated.  There are so many, in fact, that the Colorado is actually nicknamed “The River of Law.”  These laws began with the Colorado River compact of 1922, which stated how the water would be managed upstream so as to allow for water use in the downstream states as well.  Needless to say, throughout history there were more law disputes between states than I can count, but today, once my water friends and I reach Lake Mead, our rations are as followed (usbr, 2011): 1.5 million acre-feet (MAF) of water it to go Mexico; 4.4 MAF to California; 2.8 MAF to Arizona; and 0.3 MAF to Nevada.  Along with this, about 0.6 MAF of the water in the river returns to the atmosphere through evaporation (Jacobsen, 2014).  So, as you can see, I have the opportunity to travel all around the southwest!  However, the problem with this is that right now the river is being overdrawn by about 1.2 MAF.  This means that if there is not a change in water usage in the southwest soon, the river will simply run out of water (mid-west here I come)!

Like I mentioned before, I have the opportunity to visit many different states.  I may end up in someone’s shower, in the community pool, or even a fountain in Las Vegas!  However, it is more likely that I end up going to work on a farm.  About 70% of the Colorado River, after reaching Lake Mead, goes toward agriculture.  About two-thirds go toward irrigation of big crops like corn, wheat, and soy.  The other one-third goes toward the beef industry, which means there’s a one-in-three chance I will be made into a hamburger (Jacobsen, 2014).  While this does sound like a very exciting ride, it does present some problems. 

The further south I descend, the more contaminants I carry along.  As humans’ population is rising and energy needs are increasing, businesses have begun competing with one another to extract resources found underneath the river basin.  Uranium, oil, natural gas, and oil shale are being mined and accidentally leaking harmful elements into my water path (Deacon, 1999).  The competition results in companies putting minimum effort towards environmental safety measures.  Also, runoff from farms leaks into streams and groundwater, bringing along with it carcinogens from chemical fertilizers, growth hormones, pesticides, and livestock manure.  If these contaminants get out of control, humans are in big trouble! They rely so highly on my water friends and I in the Colorado River that if unhealthy contaminants appear in large amounts, they would have widespread detrimental effects everywhere the water is distributed.

Humans have some opportunities to help me, though!  There are several changes that can be made.  One is the potential use of deionization to purify saltwater, so less freshwater would need to be taken from the Colorado River.  This is the process of removing salts from water.  Unfortunately, it is very expensive and not very energy efficient (Anderson, 2013).  Hopefully, we can rely on technology advancements to introduce more efficient, less expensive ways of using the Earth’s massive supply of saltwater, but that hasn’t happened quite yet. 

They could change traditional agriculture methods to indoor hydroponic farming, which can use just 10% water to grow the same amount of produce (Bradley, 2001).  Hydroponic farming is being called the future of agriculture for a reason; there are many pros and very few cons, and methods are being constantly updated for energy and cost efficiency!  Hydroponic farming is a method that uses just water and a media of some sort to hold plant roots instead of soil, so precious water is not wasted by seeping through the soil or evaporation, but instead it is collected and reused while retaining its added nutrients for the plants! Using the vertical method, lots of space is saved on an indoor farm than was in the past, and the environment can be controlled to maximize temperature, carbon dioxide levels, humidity, and light.  Along with this indoor environment control, pests are not involved as easily so hardly any additional chemicals are needed! Thank goodness—those chemicals were dangerous for my water friends and I as they kept following us around through the environments and into foods humans grow.  Also, LED (light emitting diode) lamps can be used, which produce only the red, blue, and green lights necessary for plant growth without wasting energy on all the other spectrum colors.  Farms can be placed in the middle of cities or areas of drought so that more people—especially those in the lower class or those victim to food desserts—can access fresh produce at low costs and transportation is cut down.  Although there is still electricity required, people can use other environmentally friendly systems to produce all the energy needed, such as large-scale composting systems and solar panels.  Not all plants can be grown efficiently hydroponically; tall growing wheat and corn are better left to the fields.  But leafy greens, tomatoes, potatoes, and other smaller fruits, veggies, and herbs that are grown in places like California, which is currently going through a huge drought that will only become worse with global warming, can be moved elsewhere.  Perhaps Detroit, for example, can grow vegetables with the plentiful freshwater found in the Great Lakes rather than the endangered CO River!

The ideal side of using hydroponic gardening is controversial with those humans.  After all, traditional agriculture is natural and beautiful, right? Why should they always rely on technology to come up with a fix for their own destruction of the environment and consequential issues?  However, sometimes—as with the case of indoor farming—the technologic alternative to environmental processes is the best route in order to conserve the environment for the future.  The only problem is balancing out the economy, seeing as Americans rely on a Capitalist economy and the “growth machine” in order to keep itself stable, and farms currently make up a huge portion of the country’s economy, but that’s a separate issue altogether.

So far, it has been clear that my journey has mostly had to do with humans.  This is likely due to the ideology of environmental domination- meaning human believe they have the right to control the environment (Bell, 2012).  Americans have such an individualistic viewpoint of life that they rarely take the time to notice the impact they are having on the river.  People seem to think that our only reason for existence is to slave away day in and day out making food, looking pretty, and providing other services.  But, I have a different dream for my journey.  I would like to travel all the way to the ocean and see all the amazing plants and animals along the way!  Unfortunately, at this point in time a dry and cracked riverbed is all I have to look forward to at the end of my long road.  Of the 5 trillion gallons of water in the Colorado River, zero make it to the ocean.  About 100 miles prior to the sea, the water simply stops.  This had led to ecological degradation, causing the delta’s population of birds, trees, and other animals to dwindle. Currently, only 10% of the Colorado’s original wetlands are in existence (nasa, 2014). 

But, what would happen if I were able to continue on?  Ecologists wondered this same question, and just last year set out to answer it.  They cracked opened the Morelos Dam and let some water run through.  What happened afterwards was amazing!  The river came back to life!  Insects that had been waiting years for this opportunity finally hatched, willow and cottonwood trees began to grow, and a new ecosystem showed signs of forming.  The humans seemed pretty excited as well… the surrounding communities broke out in celebration for the return of their beloved river (Jacobsen, 2014)!  It seemed that both the environmental and social impacts were great; maybe we are more connected than we think. 

Insert video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCcEOIu2wbg
CAPTION VIDEO: This video shows what happened when we let a fraction of the Colorado River run it’s course to the Sea of Cortez.

Unfortunately, like all experiments, this project had to come to an end.  The river once again stops 100 miles short of the ocean, the land has returned to its desolate state, and the people have resumed their typical lives in the desert.  Does this mean that this whole project was a failure?  What is to come from the results?  That I cannot tell, but I can say, we remember.  We remember what it was like to flow through a lush oasis through the southwest.  We remember reaching communities who do not currently have the wealth and legislation to have a river.  We remember, and as this project shows, the river does not forget.

References

Anderson, A. Marc, Garcia-Quismondo, Enrique, Lado, Julio, Palma, Jesus, Santos, Cleis. (2013, September 9). Optimizing the Energy Efficiency of Capacitive Deionization Reactors Working under Real-World Conditions. Electrochemical Processes Unit, IMDEA Energy Institute, Ave. Ramón de la Sagra 3, Mostoles Technology Park E28935, Mostoles, Spain. IMDEA Water Institute, Scientific Technology Park − Alcalá University, E-28805, Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Environmental Chemistry and Technology Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin. 2013, September 9. Web. 2015, March 22.

Bell, M. (2012). An invitation to environmental sociology (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press.

Bradley, P. and Marulanda, C. 2001. SIMPLIFIED HYDROPONICS TO REDUCE GLOBAL HUNGER. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 554:289-296

http://www.actahort.org/books/554/554_31.htm

Jacobsen, R. (2014, June 10). The Day We Set the Colorado River Free. Retrieved March 23, 2015, from http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Open-the-Floodgates-The-Day-We-Set-the-Colorado-River-Free.html

Usbr. (2011, January 1). Bureau of Reclamation: Lower Colorado Region - Law of the River. Retrieved March 23, 2015, from http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/pao/lawofrvr.html

Usbr. (2014, January 1). Dams Along the Lower Colorado River. Retrieved March 23, 2015, from http://www.usbr.gov/lc/yuma/facilities/dams/yao_dams_map.html

Zielinski, S. (2010, October 1). The Colorado River Runs Dry. Retrieved March 23, 2015, from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-colorado-river-runs-dry-61427169/?no-ist

NASA. (2014, March 1). Restoring a Pulse to the Lower Colorado : Image of the Day. Retrieved March 23, 2015, from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=83378