Colorado River

Andrew Black

2/15/2012

Where the Colorado Runs Dry

The article I read is about the Colorado River which is starting to go dry. The Colorado river is the most legendary white water river. The river was regularly flowing south through the Arizona California border into the Mexican delta until 1998. The rapid climate change, growth in population and all of the damming is what is causing the lowering of the water level. In the 20^th century according to records of tree rings the river was at its peak, and it would flow constantly through the delta non stop. The Colorado river was not only a legendary white water river, but it was very important to fertilizing the land providing drinking water, transportation, and giving a perfect mix of salt water and fresh water for some fish such as shrimp. In 2008 the writer of the article said that he had tried to go down the 1,450 mile river, but had to walk the last week of his trip because the water had dried up. He like many other people who depend on the drinking water they get from the river are worried that soon there will be no more. The writer of the article also said he feels sorry for the generations who will inherit the river, because soon nothing will be left. Another affect of the climate change would be that scientist believe by 2050 the runoff will decrease from 10 percent all the way down to 30 percent.